Valuing marine ecosystem service damage caused by land reclamation: Insights from a deliberative choice experiment in Jiaozhou Bay

Abstract

Land reclamation permanently alters the natural properties of coastal resources and the environment and thus has caused significant damage to marine ecosystem services. The purpose of this study is to assess the marine ecosystem service losses derived from land reclamation in Jiaozhou Bay. To achieve this goal, a new participatory, deliberative choice experiment approach, which is considered particularly suitable for valuing unfamiliar or complex environmental goods, was conducted. The results from the random parameter logit (RPL) models revealed that on average, the public derived positive and significant values from the restoration of marine ecosystem services, and the average willingness to pay (WTP) per respondent in Jiaozhou Bay was 1326.56 Chinese yuan (CNY) each year for restoring the marine ecosystem damaged by land reclamation. According to the implicit price estimates of ecological attributes, marine biodiversity and water quality were the two main ecosystem service losses associated with land reclamation. This study provides references for internalizing the external environmental costs of these coastal construction activities and contributes to the evidence on the importance of better management of the marine ecosystem and resources and for improved policy-making and regulation.