Total Economic Value Research Articles

Economics of Peatland Ecosystem Services: A Study of Use and Non-Use Values and People Interplays in Sumatra, Indonesia

Peatlands play an important role in the global environment and the well-being of humans by providing valuable ecosystem services. Yet, anthropogenic activities pose significant hazards for peatland management, including low levels of community participation due to lack of awareness and financial incentives. Understanding the social–cultural and economic value of these ecosystems will raise awareness to protect these important ecosystems. Here, we estimated a total economic value (TEV) of peatland ecosystem services and examined relationships between the TEV and landscape characteristics in Riau province, Indonesia. A questionnaire was used to investigate household socioeconomics, perception of peatland importance, peatland product collection, and willingness to pay for habitat and biodiversity protection from May to June 2023. A total of 200 household individuals (92% confidence) in five villages across distinct landscapes in the Sungai Kiyap-Sungai Kampar Kiri Peatland Hydrological Unit participated in the survey. The respondents obtained numerous advantages from the peatlands with an estimated TEV of USD 3174 per household per year (about 1.3 times their annual income). Approximately 81% showed a use value, especially food provisioning from fish and soil fertility. To a lesser extent, non-use values included a habitat for endemic and endangered species, biodiversity conservation for future generations, and community bonds with sacred forests. The landscape characteristics, illustrating habitat types, biophysical conditions, and property rights regimes, interplay with the relative benefits derived from the peatlands. Proximity to secondary peat swamp forests and riparian zones, especially within protected areas, enhanced economic value. Protected area co-management is essential to balance peatland conservation with sustainable livelihoods. Primary forests need restrictive protection. Meanwhile, buffer zone designation and agroforestry practices, especially in the peatland–farm interface, reduce land use tensions and promote local stewardship. This study can be used as a reference by planners and policymakers to recognize factors that promote effective peatland management, especially those that balance ecosystem protection and livelihood maintenance.

Maximizing value through optimized annual selection of Pareto-optimal wind turbine operating strategies

Wind turbines as an investment aim at turning an initial expense into a profit. Naturally, the aim of developers and operators alike is to create an economic benefit that is as high as possible. Little changes to a wind turbine structure are possible once it is built, and wind as the ultimate power source cannot be influenced. The only available means to achieve a high economic benefit is through improved operations and maintenance. We developed a method for optimizing the operation of wind turbines that builds on condition-based adaptation of the power setpoint. It aims at balancing loads and power generation such that lifetime is increased, and the total economic value is improved over simpler operating schemes. In this contribution, we extend the method with an annually varying selection of different optimal operating strategies from an initial multiobjective optimization. We show three case studies that highlight the potential of annual variation and the margin with which it improves on operating at nominal power and over a fixed optimized operating strategy. In each case study, the net present value can be improved slightly over a lifetime-constant operating point that is selected once from the Pareto-front.

Cashing in: cost-benefit analysis framework for digital hospitals

BackgroundFor many countries, especially those outside the USA without incentive payments, implementing and maintaining electronic medical records (EMR) is expensive and can be controversial given the large amounts of investment. Evaluating the value of EMR implementation is necessary to understand whether or not, such investment, especially when it comes from the public source, is an efficient allocation of healthcare resources. Nonetheless, most countries have struggled to measure the return on EMR investment due to the lack of appropriate evaluation frameworks.MethodsThis paper outlines the development of an evidence-based digital health cost-benefit analysis (eHealth-CBA) framework to calculate the total economic value of the EMR implementation over time. A net positive benefit indicates such investment represents improved efficiency, and a net negative is considered a wasteful use of public resources.ResultsWe developed a three-stage process that takes into account the complexity of the healthcare system and its stakeholders, the investment appraisal and evaluation practice, and the existing knowledge of EMR implementation. The three stages include (1) literature review, (2) stakeholder consultation, and (3) CBA framework development. The framework maps the impacts of the EMR to the quadruple aim of healthcare and clearly creates a method for value assessment.ConclusionsThe proposed framework is the first step toward developing a comprehensive evaluation framework for EMRs to inform health decision-makers about the economic value of digital investments rather than just the financial value.

Contextualizing willingness to pay for sustainable management of agroecosystem services in a rapidly transforming landscape: Insights from the interdunal wetlands of Medinipur Coastal Plain, India

Interdunal wetlands of the Medinipur coastal plain provide various agroecosystem services (AES). Local populace had been found to utilize these wetlands for subsistence livelihood since time immemorial. However, many of these wetlands have become degraded by extensive land use conversions along with increasing apathy among young farmers to continue wetland based traditional livelihood practices in the recent years. In this regard, the present study attempts to assess the willingness to pay (WTP) of the local wetland dependent populace towards restoration and management of the various AES of a regional interdunal wetland complex using contingent valuation (CV) method. The CV survey was conducted among 229 households from 14 villages associated to the wetland complex. Four Landsat images from 1990 to 2020 and several ancillary spatial datasets were analysed to detect the current as well as future status (2030) of land use covers using the artificial neural network algorithm. Results showed that socio-economic factors such as age, level of education, monthly income per person, ownership of wetlands, and availability of AES primarily determined the average WTP (US$ 0.30 per month) of surveyed households. Thus, the total economic value of the wetland complex, calculated as the aggregate WTP, was remarkably as low as US$ 11568.64 per year, thereby indicating towards lesser environmental awareness and widespread poverty among the respondents. This perilous condition is also manifested in the present and future projected LULC patterns from 1990 to 2030. If the same trend of mismanagement prevails in the imminent years, a drop of more than 50% in areal coverage of interdunal wetlands is anticipated. Based on the findings, it was suggested that the vicious cycle of ‘lesser awareness-low WTP-wetland loss-degrading provision of AES’ could only be replaced through a three-pronged approach comprising environmental education, technological dissemination, and legislative cum ecotourism interventions.

The catch amount of Mediterranean horse mackerel Trachurus mediterraneus (Steindachner, 1868) gillnets in the Sea of Marmara

The small-scale fishermen in the coastal area of the Marmara Sea between April and June caught the Mediterranean horse mackerel Trachurus mediterraneus (Steindachner, 1868) with gillnets. This target species, T.mediterraneus and significant amounts of non-target species are caught in these nets. So, the technical and structural characteristics of the gillnets for a commercial fishermen were determined and the target and non-target species were evaluated in catching operations. The multifilament gillnet mesh size of 18 milimeters polyamid, twine thickness of 210d/2, hanging ratio of 0.33 and the total length of approximately 200 meters. Also, guarding nets were added to gillnets. The total amount was determined as 397.8 kilograms (kg) and 9204 individuals (ind). The weight of T.mediterraneus was constituted 39.3% of the total weight. The in of T.mediterraneus was constituted 43.4% of the total ind. While the catch per unit effort (CPUE) for T.mediterraneus was calculated at 0.026 kg/m.operation-1 and 0.7 ind/m.operation-1, the CPUE for the total amount was calculated at 0.066 kg/m.operation-1 and 1.5 ind/m.operation-1. The total economic value was calculated at 15814.4 Turkish Liras (TL), which 9390 TL from T.mediterraneus and 6424.4 TL from non-target species. This study is important in terms of revealing for the first time the catch efficiency of gillnets used by commercial fishermen to catch T.mediterraneus in the coastal area of the Marmara Sea, which is an important fishing area. These results will contribute to the creation of management plans and fisheries management for species-specific fishing gear used in a region.

Economic Valuation of Women's Unpaid Household Service Work in Bangladesh

This short note estimates the economic value of women’s unpaid household service work in Bangladesh using data from the Time Use Survey 2021 of BBS. This survey collected detailed information 17,772 respondents (10,024 female and 7,748 male) from 8,000 households on how individuals aged 15 years and older spent their time over a 24-hour period in a day on various activities. Productive time of all household members is divided into three categories: i) household chores (e.g. cooking, cleaning, etc.); ii) caregiving services for household members; and iii) paid and self-employed work. The first two categories comprise unpaid household service work. Data show that women and men spent 7 hours and 6.9 hours on productive work, respectively. In order to estimate the total economic value of women’s unpaid work, we follow an input-based replacement cost approach with generalist wage rates. Our estimate shows that the valuation of women’s unpaid care work is BDT 5,307 billion, which is equivalent to 14.8 per cent of the GDP in 2021. This figure is a meagre 2.8 per cent of GDP for men.

Rehabilitating coral reefs in the Anthropocene

Coral reefs provide food and livelihoods for hundreds of millions of coastal people in over 100 countries. Recent global estimates for the total value of goods and services that they can generate indicate around US$ 105,000-350,000 per hectare per year, but local estimates of current total economic value can be one to two orders of magnitude lower. Unfortunately, coral reefs are under threat both from local human stressors (for example, sediment and nutrient run-off from agriculture, sewage discharges, dredging, destructive fishing, land 'reclamation', overfishing) and, increasingly, from stressors related to global climate change (not only El Niño Southern Oscillation-related marine heatwaves, which cause mass bleaching and mortality of corals, but also more frequent and powerful tropical cyclones and ocean acidification). Four successive mass-bleaching events on Australia's iconic Great Barrier Reef between 2016 and 2022 (plus another one currently underway) have focused world attention on the need for urgent action to protect coral reefs. It is clear that coral reef ecosystems will continue to decline unless anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions are reduced and innovative management strategies are developed to assist adaptation.

Economic Valuation of Mangrove Ecosystem in Sari Ringgung, Pesawaran Regency, Lampung Province

Mangrove ecosystems play an important role in human life. It’s ecological role includes trapping sediment, protecting shorelines, and providing a natural habitat. The economic function of mangrove forests is for it to be a place for mangrove ecotourism, source of fisheries, source of food, and so on. This research aimed to quantify the monetary value of mangrove forests in Sari Ringgung. The method used in this study is an exploratory descriptive method that quantifies the total value of direct and indirect use of mangrove forest ecosystems. The research results showed that the mangroves found mainly consisted of 5 types i.e. Avicennia marina, Rhizophora apculata, Rhizophora mucronata, Rhizophora stylos, and Bruguiera cylindrica. The total economic value of mangrove forests in the Sari Ringgung area, Pesawaran Regency is IDR 109,953,256,105, which consists of the use value ofIDR 46,855,529,425 and the non-use value of IDR 888,172,548. The use value consists of a direct use value of IDR 138,060,000 and an indirect use value of 46,717,469,425, while the non-use value consists of an existence value of 874,366,548, an option value of 62,209,554,132 and a value of 13,806,000. The total economic value of the mangrove forests was in the high-value category, although the area of mangrove forests in Sari Ringgung and Pesawaran Regency has decreased.

Evaluation of the Socioeconomic Impacts of the Production of Carob Pod Derivatives in Two Rural Communities in Peru

Purpose: This research analyzes the impact of carob pod processing on the economic, social and environmental conditions of communities in Piura and Lambayeque, Peru. Method/design/approach: The study focused on products derived from carob trees, particularly algarrobina, and the Total Economic Value theory based on the Market Price Method was used to evaluate the economic and social conditions. Results and conclusion: The study found that the production of algarrobina provides an annual economic benefit in monetary units of S/ 31,881.24 (Thirty-one thousand eight hundred eighty-one and 24/100 nuevos soles) in the producers studied. In economic terms. In social terms, the study found that the community obtains in monetary units a social benefit of S/ 32,029.18 (Thirty-two thousand and twenty-nine and 18/100 nuevos soles). The income generated by algarrobina production provides families with access to basic services such as education and health care. In environmental terms, the study found that carob syrup production also has a positive impact on the environment, but this impact is only partially due to permanent deforestation. The carob tree is a native species that grows in arid and semi-arid areas, and its cultivation does not require large amounts of water, but nevertheless showed changes in their fruits, the quantities produced are much lower than in previous years and with respect to their characteristics the quality of this shows a sharp reduction in size and thickness. Research implications: The results highlights that algarrobina production also fosters community participation and strengthens social ties, generating a positive impact on the quality of life of the communities. Original value: Algarrobina production generates income for producers and traders, which in turn contributes to the economic development of the communities. In addition, the study found that algarrobina production also has a positive impact on employment, as labor is required to harvest and process the carob tree.

Current inequality and future potential of US urban tree cover for reducing heat-related health impacts

Excessive heat is a major and growing risk for urban residents. Here, we estimate the inequality in summertime heat-related mortality, morbidity, and electricity consumption across 5723 US municipalities and other places, housing 180 million people during the 2020 census. On average, trees in majority non-Hispanic white neighborhoods cool the air by 0.19 ± 0.05 °C more than in POC neighborhoods, leading annually to trees in white neighborhoods helping prevent 190 ± 139 more deaths, 30,131 ± 10,406 more doctors’ visits, and 1.4 ± 0.5 terawatt-hours (TWhr) more electricity consumption than in POC neighborhoods. We estimate that an ambitious reforestation program would require 1.2 billion trees and reduce population-weighted average summer temperatures by an additional 0.38 ± 0.01 °C. This temperature reduction would reduce annual heat-related mortality by an additional 464 ± 89 people, annual heat-related morbidity by 80,785 ± 6110 cases, and annual electricity consumption by 4.3 ± 0.2 TWhr, while increasing annual carbon sequestration in trees by 23.7 ± 1.2 MtCO2e yr−1 and decreasing annual electricity-related GHG emissions by 2.1 ± 0.2 MtCO2e yr−1. The total economic value of these benefits, including the value of carbon sequestration and avoided emissions, would be USD 9.6 ± 0.5 billion, although in many neighborhoods the cost of planting and maintaining trees to achieve this increased tree cover would exceed these benefits. The exception is areas that currently have less tree cover, often the majority POC, which tend to have a relatively high return on investment from tree planting.

A practical and pragmatic way to assess deeper motivations for ecosystems preservation in developing country – The case of banc d’Arguin National Park (Mauritania)

The core of this paper is an evaluation of the willingness to pay for non-use values of the ecosystem services related to the Banc d'Arguin National Park in Mauritania. This coastal protected area, the largest in Africa, has existed for more than forty years and plays a major role in the conservation of biodiversity. We use contingent valuation to estimate the willingness to pay by Mauritanian populations for the protection of biodiversity in the park. Results show that the non-use value accounts for 12–29% of the total economic value attributed to the park's ecosystem services. Interestingly, a correlation exists between the familiarity with the park and the living conditions of people interviewed and their willingness to pay: rural and distant populations have a lower willingness to pay than closer or urban population. The results also highlight that the protection of biodiversity is compatible with the maintenance of the Imraguen way of life since their fishing practices are based on traditional sustainable catch techniques.

Optimized Nitrogen Application Rate Significantly Increases Total Economic Value and Quality of Flue-Cured Tobacco due to the Improvement of Superior Tobacco Yield

Summary With the improvement of irrigation and transportation infrastructures, single tobacco cultivation has been converted into tobacco–vegetable double cultivation in Yunnan Province. High residual nitrogen (N) levels in soil before tobacco transplanting induced by the excessive N input during the vegetable cultivation season resulted in a reduction of economic income and the quality of flue-cured tobacco. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to describe the optimization of N management and to provide a better understanding of the mechanism of optimal N application rate on the economic benefit and quality of tobacco. A field experiment with six N application rates (0, 45, 60, 75, 90, and 105 kg N ha−1) was carried out with a randomized block design in 2021 and 2022 in Yunnan Province. The economic value and yield, intrinsic chemical and processing quality, leaf growth rate and agronomic characters were determined. Compared with the currently recommended 105 kg N ha−1 rate, 75 kg N ha−1 significantly increased the total economic value and superior tobacco yields, improved the integrated grade of chemical compounds and resulted in leaf midrib proportions in an appropriate range. The total economic value positively correlated with the superior tobacco leaf yields (R2 = 0.91, p < 0.001), while not with medium and inferior leaf yield. The daily leaf growth rate in prosperous growth stage significantly correlated with the yield of superior tobacco and reached its maximum at a N rate of 75 kg N ha−1. The sum of N application rate and soil residual N before transplanting correlated with the total economic value (R2 = 0.66, p < 0.05) and superior leaf yield (R2 = 0.64, p < 0.05), respectively. Based on the amount of soil residual N before transplanting, the optimal N application rate was 66 kg N ha−1 which was 39 kg N ha−1 lower than the currently recommended N rate (105 kg N ha−1). Our results highlighted that the technical consultants and farmers should adjust the N application rate appropriately according to the residual N amount before transplanting and optimize the water and fertilizer management especially in the prosperous growth stage. An optimized N rate is not only of economic benefit and the improvement of quality of tobacco cultivation, but also environment friendly.

Evaluating the impact of off-design CHP performance on the optimal sizing and dispatch of hybrid renewable-CHP distributed energy resources

The maturation of distributed energy resources (DER) has prompted the exploration of their deployment in commercial building applications due to their potential to supply energy at lower costs and emissions rates compared to centralized generation. While several software tools exist for evaluating the techno-economic potential of integrated renewable energy and combined heat and power (CHP) systems for distributed generation applications, many suffer from poor accuracy in capturing off-design (part load and changes in ambient air temperature and pressure) performance characteristics of microturbines, combustion turbines, or internal combustion engines. Thus, this paper presents a methodology for integrating these off-design characteristics in the mixed-integer linear program within REopt, a hybrid DER screening tool. The economic impact of the CHP off-design performance is observed through several application studies of various hybrid system configurations in different climates. Each study indicates how CHP off-design performance influences optimal sizing and dispatch decisions and therefore overall system economic value. We observe through case studies that modeling without the off-design effects, depending on the CHP prime mover and site, can result in Net Present Value predictions of hybrid systems that can be overoptimistic in frequently hot climates (up to 52 %), too conservative in frequently cold climates (up to 11 %), or unaffected (＋/−1 %) in temperate climates. Cases also highlight several advantages of hybrid systems relative to non-hybrid systems such as total economic value and the systems’ ability to mitigate potentially negative consequences attributed to off-design performance.

Assessment of Seagrass Ecosystems’ Goods and Services of India

Nearly every shallow coastal region on Earth is home to seagrass, a type of marine flowering plant. They grow down to depths where just 11% of surface light reaches the bottom after colonizing soft substrates like mud, sand, and cobbles. Seagrasses often choose wave-sheltered environments where sediments are shielded from waves and currents. The seagrass environment serves as a home to large animals like dugongs and marine mammals like ducks and geese. The seagrass serves as a feeding and refuge area for the related creatures for the entirety or a portion of their life cycles. Raw materials and food, medicine, fertilizer, coastal protection, erosion control, water purification, fisheries maintenance, nursery grounds, invertebrate habitats, carbon sequestration, tourism, recreation, support for education, and research are just a few of the goods and services provided by seagrass to the coastal community. The value of a seagrass ecosystem's products and services to human well-being can be measured, and this can be used to support the need for seagrass ecosystem preservation, transfer, and regeneration. Many valuation studies are conducted to estimate the various goods and services produced by the seagrass ecosystem. The total area of seagrass distribution in the coastal States and UTs of India is 51822 ha, distributed in 4162 seagrass patches. Using meta-analysis and an average of Benefit Transfer (BT) method, the Total Economic Value (TEV) of seagrass has been estimated as Rs. 2594342/ha/yr. ($ 55,637/ha/yr.) with a maximum of Rs. 5948650 ha/yr. ($1,27,571/ha/yr.) and a minimum of 791448/ha/yr. ($ 16,973/ha/yr.). Subsequently, the total equivalent economic benefit from seagrass beds in India has been quantified at Rs.13444 crore/yr. ($ 2,88,31,22,453/yr.).

The values of cultural goods and cultural capital externalities: state of the art and future research prospects

Cultural economics has largely looked toward environmental economics and used non-market valuation techniques such as contingent valuation to estimate the total economic value of cultural goods. These methods are well suited to the valuation of cultural heritage goods, where the benefits are mostly related to the level of supply and mainly take the form of existence and bequest values. This stands in contrast to cultural institutions such as theatres, libraries, exhibitions, and concerts, where the value is produced, when the goods are consumed. For this type of cultural goods, I suggest that cultural economics rather turn to find inspiration in the economics of education. The value of schooling can be divided into private returns and social returns (human capital externalities). Likewise, the value of cultural consumption can have a private and a public component, where I suggest labeling the public component cultural capital externalities. The idea is that when private consumption of arts and culture is taking place, the individual will accumulate cultural capital. This accumulated cultural capital can impact other people (e.g., through changed behavior, future decisions or interactions) and create externalities, i.e., the cultural capital externalities. The size of the externalities is expected to increase (or decrease) with the level of consumption. Without the consumption by the users, no externalities are produced. While this is one of the most fundamental arguments for cultural policy, it has not yet been extensively studied within cultural economics.

Valuasi Ekonomi Nilai Jasa Hutan: Sebuah Literature Review

Forests are terrestrial ecosystems that are mostly covered with trees and dominate almost the entire land surface of the earth. Forests play an important role in ecology, social, economic and environmental aspects. Forests are useful as producers of environmental goods and services. The benefits of forests as producers of goods such as wood, rattan, medicinal plants, fruit and so on are clearly visible and immediately felt. However, other benefits of forests as producers of services such as absorbing carbon, producing oxygen, regulating water management, preserving ecosystems, preventing erosion and others whose benefits can be felt but not seen sometimes receive less attention from policy makers because they are not felt directly. in economics. In fact, these indirect benefits greatly influence the quality of the environment and are very beneficial for humans and other living creatures. This article provides an overview of the indirect benefits of forests through a review of several literature. This literature review shows that the indirect benefits of forests, especially as carbon absorbers and oxygen producers, make the largest contribution to calculating the total economic value, so that policy makers need more attention in managing forests so that they remain sustainable.

‘I didn’t count “willingness to pay” as part of the value’: Monetary valuation through respondents’ perspectives

A frequent justification in the literature for using stated preference methods (SP) is that they are the only methods that can capture the so-called total economic value (TEV) of environmental changes to society. Based on follow-up interviews with SP survey respondents, this paper addresses the implications of that argument by shedding light on the construction of TEV, through respondents’ perspective. It illuminates the deficiencies of willingness to pay (WTP) as a measure of value presented as three aggregated themes considering respondents’ unintentionality, their retraction once they understood that their WTP could be decisive in cost-benefit analysis and the inherent incompleteness of WTP. We discuss why the TEV discourse persists, how it conceals rather than reveals broader notions of value and in what ways our results support the development of alternative approaches that truly endorse plurality in environmental valuation and decision-making.

Economic valuation of a gallery landscape of ahuehuetes in Ciudad Mendoza Veracruz, using the AMUVAM method

Objective: to determine the value, in monetary terms, of the landscape "Bosque de Galería de Ahuehuetes, in Mendoza, Veracruz", in order to have a reference for the purposes of planning and management of this environmental asset by the municipality. Design/ Methodology/ Approach: the Analytic Multicriteria Valuation Method (AMUVAM) was used. A survey was made of 10 experts in the study area on the elements of the total economic value (VET) of the asset and the results were weighted to determine the importance of the components of the VET. The rent was determined based on the availability of the population to pay for the aesthetic enjoyment of the visit to the site; income updated by means of a social discount rate (TSD) to environmental projects with a time horizon of more than 30 years. Results: an estimation of 23,603,041.37 USD was obtained as monetary value. It was the result of the valuation of the landscape of this gallery forest in November 2022. Study limitations/ Implications: results were considered adequate. The main limitations of this type of studies are the time and economic resources needed in order to add other elements that could be considered beyond aesthetic enjoyment. Specific elements would allow to find an even more robust direct use value. Findings / Conclusions: it can be noticed that the application of the method was adequate to determine the monetary value of this asset. Based on the determination of the willingness of people to pay for access to the aesthetic enjoyment of the analyzed landscape.

Ecosystem Services Value Realization and Ecological Industry Design in Scenic Areas of Karst in South China

Ecosystem services (ESs) value realization and ecological industry (eco-industry) are essential components of regional development. Due to the vulnerability and non-renewability of natural landscape resources in Karst areas, once unreasonable resource development takes place, it is easy to pose threats and causes damage to its ecosystem. This article selects the grain data correction equivalent factor coefficients in Guizhou Province, China, and establishes accounting indicators for Karst scenic areas. It is found that the total economic value of ESs is as follows: Shanmuhe Scenic Area (CNY 5096.3 thousand) > DaXiaoQiKong Scenic Area (CNY 2778.6 thousand) > Huangguoshu Scenic Area (CNY 2130.7 thousand). Among them, the value of regulating services plays a dominant role in the composition of ESs, and the value of forests accounts for the largest proportion. Through web crawlers, tourism data can be acquired, and the Product–Experience–Feedback–Improvement (PEFI) model can be applied to reveal that tourists have a predominantly positive perception of Karst scenic areas. This indicates that karst landscape resources are deeply loved by domestic and foreign tourists, especially mountain, water and forest landscapes. Based on the results of the ES value accounting of the scenic area and the external perception data of tourists towards the scenic area, the eco-industry spatial layout development plan is formulated. According to local conditions, the development, construction, and protection of the scenic area are carried out, jointly promoting the realization of the ecological product value (EPV) of the Karst scenic area, to determine the optimal development direction of the eco-industry, and to promote the coordinated development of ecological resources and assets.

Factors Influencing Willingness of Farmers to Pay for Agricultural Non-point Source Pollution Control Based on Distributed Cognitive Theory

The analysis of the willingness of individual farmers to cover costs is an important basis for measuring the economic value of agricultural non-point pollution management， and determining the ecological and economic value of rural surface pollution control is a necessary measure to internalize the externalities of agricultural production. Based on the analysis of the hierarchy of factors influencing the cognition of farmers， this study constructed a theoretical framework based on distributed cognition theory to analyze their willingness to pay for agricultural non-point source pollution control from the perspective of individual farmers. On the basis of this framework， we used the Double-Hurdle model to empirically test the overall process of farmers'willingness to pay and their willingness to pay the amount for agricultural non-point source pollution control by combining 531 microscopic research datapoints in Guanzhong， Shaanxi Province. The results showed that： ① the number of farmers with willingness to pay for agricultural non-point source pollution control was 267， accounting for 50.30% of the total sample， and the average value of willingness to pay was 1 469.77 yuan·hm-2； the total economic value of agricultural non-point source pollution control in Shaanxi Province in 2020 was estimated to be 5.791 billion yuan based on the expected value of the willingness to pay level of the research sample. ② Farmers'willingness to pay for agricultural non-point source pollution control was influenced by the combined effects of personal， regional， and cultural forces， and the effects of each dimension were similar； farmers' willingness to pay for agricultural non-point source pollution control was mainly influenced by the cultural force factor， and the effects of personal and regional forces were very limited. ③ The results of the regressions by income level showed that personal and cultural strengths had a significant impact on the willingness to pay among the low-income group but did not contribute to the increase in the willingness to pay.