Foxes and feral cats are invasive predators threating biodiversity in many places around the world. Managing these predators to protect threatened species should involve careful consideration of ...biological, geographic, economic, and social aspects to ensure informed and effective decision-making. This study investigates people's preferences for the ways in which foxes and feral cats are managed at a conservation site in Western Australia using a discrete choice experiment. We further aim to quantify the non-market values of two native threatened species protected by management; Numbats and Woylies. The attributes evaluated in the survey included: increased populations of Numbats and Woylies, cost of management, and a range of invasive feral predator management strategies (1080 baiting, fencing, trapping, and community engagement). Results show that respondents prefer a combination of management strategies over the strategy of 1080 baiting that is currently being implemented, particularly combinations that include trapping and community engagement. There is also strong public support for increased Numbat and Woylie populations. Willingness to pay was, on average, $21.76 for 100 Numbats and $7.95 for 1000 Woylies. Including images of the threatened species in the choice sets does not influence willingness-to-pay estimates. We further discuss how familiarity with the species influences value. Our results feed into the conservation decision making process about feral species management in the region.
•We assess community preferences for managing foxes and feral cats.•Multiple feral predator management strategies are compared.•There is preference to implement a combination of strategies over current 1080 baiting.•We estimate willingness to pay for conservation of Numbat and Woylie populations.•There is public support for increased Numbat and Woylie populations.
•The main factors affecting WTP for RE were study design and model specification.•WTP was significantly higher for electricity generated from solar or generic RE.•The WTP for RE was positively ...associated with the RE penetration in consumption.•The WTP for RE was negatively associated with current electricity consumption level.
Using renewable energy for domestic consumption has been identified as a key strategy by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Critical to the success of this strategy is to know whether consumers are willing to pay to increase the proportion of electricity generated from renewable energy in their electricity portfolio. There are a number of studies in the literature that report a wide range of willingness to pay estimates. In this study, we used a meta-regression analysis to determine how much of the variation in willingness to pay reflects true differences across the population and how much is due to study design, such as survey design and administration, and model specification. The results showed that factors that influence willingness to pay, such as renewable energy type, consumers’ socio-economic profile and consumers’ energy consumption patterns, explain less variation in willingness to pay estimates than the characteristics of the study design itself. Because of this effect, we recommend that policy makers exercise caution when interpreting and using willingness to pay results from primary studies. Our meta-regression analysis further shows that consumers have significantly higher willingness to pay for electricity generated from solar, wind or generic renewable energy source (i.e. not a specific source) than hydro power or biomass.
This study investigates whether public and expert preferences diverge in a valuation of two marine reserves in Western Australia. Identical choice experiments are applied to a sample of marine ...scientists and the Western Australian community. Evidence of both divergence and convergence between public and expert values is found, with public awareness factors helping to explain differences of opinion. This result implies that, in instances of divergence, it may be preferable to support potential environmental policies through community awareness campaigns, rather than using uninformed public preferences in policy design.
Understanding the social acceptability of biodiversity offsets is important to the design of offset policy. We used a discrete choice experiment to quantify preferences of Australians for a migratory ...shorebird offset in the context of an oil and gas development project. We surveyed a nationally representative sample of 1371 respondents on their preferences for current and prospective offset-policy characteristics via an online questionnaire to inform policy design of the social dimensions related to offset acceptability. The majority of respondents accepted offsetting as a means to allow economic development; the option to reject development (and an offset) was selected in 13% of possible offset scenarios. Substituting protection of a species affected by the development with protection of a more endangered species was a desirable policy characteristic, as was having the offset implemented by a third party or the government rather than the company responsible for the development. Direct offset activities (e.g., improving degraded habitat) were preferred over indirect activities (e.g., a research program), and respondents were strongly against locating the offset at a site other than where the impact occurred. Positive and negative characteristics of offsets could be traded off by changing the number of birds protected by the offset. Our results show that Australians are likely to support increased flexibility in biodiversity-offset policies, particularly when undesirable policy characteristics are compensated for. Entender la aceptabilidad social de las compensaciones de la biodiversidad es importante para diseñar una política de compensaciones. Utilizamos un experimento de opción discreta para cuantificar las preferencias de los australianos por una compensación de aves costeras migratorias en el contexto de un proyecto de desarrollo de gas y petróleo. Encuestamos una muestra representativa nacionalmente de 1371 respondientes sobre sus preferencias por las características actuales y futuras de la política de compensaciones por medio de un cuestionario en línea para informar al diseño de la politica sobre las dimensiones sociales relacionadas con la aceptabilidad de la compensación. La mayoría de los respondientes aceptaron la compensación como un medio para permitir el desarrollo económico; la opción de rechazar el desarrollo de gas y petróleo (y una compensación) fue seleccionada en 13 % de los posibles escenarios de compensación. Sustituir la protección de una especie afectada por el desarrollo con la protección de más especies en peligro fue una característica deseable de la política, así como la implementación de la compensación por parte de un tercero o el gobierno en lugar de la compañía responsable del desarrollo. Las actividades directas de compensación (P. ej.: mejor el habitat degradado) fueron preferidas por encima de las actividades indirectas (P. ej.: un programa de investigación) y los respondientes estuvieron ampliamente en contra de ubicar a la compensación en un sitio distinto a donde ocurre el impacto. Las características positivas y negativas de las compensaciones podrían intercambiarse modificando el número de aves protegidas por la compensación. Nuestros resultados muestran que los australianos probablemente apoyen un incremento en la flexibilidad de las políticas de compensación de la biodiversidad, particularmente cuando se compensan las características indeseables de la política.
Inadequate definition of key terms and their relationships generates significant communication and analytical problems in environmental planning. In this work, we evaluate an ontological framework ...for environmental planning designed to combat these problems. After outlining the framework and issues addressed, we describe its evaluation by a group of experts representing a range of expertise and institutions. Experts rated their level of agreement with 12 propositions concerning the definitions and models underpinning the framework. These propositions, in turn, were used to assess three assumptions regarding the expected effectiveness of the framework and its contribution to addressing the abovementioned planning problems. In addition to point-based best estimates of their agreement with propositions, expert ratings were also captured on a continuous interval-valued scale. The use of intervals addresses the challenge of measuring and modelling uncertainty associated with complex assessments such as those provided by experts. Combined with written anonymous expert comments, these data provide multiple perspectives on the level of support for the approach. We conclude that the framework can complement existing planning approaches and strengthen key definitions and related models, thus helping avoid communication and analytical problems in environmental planning. Finally, experts highlighted areas that require further development, and we provide recommendations for improving the framework.
•Key environmental terms are not well defined or modelled in the literature.•Consequences include poor communication and analysis.•Explicit ontological frameworks can provide one means of avoiding problems.•Using novel techniques with experts we assess the merit of an ontological framework.•We conclude that the framework helps address poor communication and analysis.
Abstract The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) aims to halt global biodiversity loss. However, its implementation process will need strategic financing particularly to address the ...divide between the Global North and Global South. Highly migratory marine vertebrates (henceforth marine megafauna) connect distant ecosystems providing ecosystem services across jurisdictions with considerably different conservation interests and economic ability to pay for biodiversity protection. Although such migratory behaviour presents a specially challenging case for protection, because it provides a direct link between developed and less-developed countries it can provide a key to unlock the potential for financial support for implementing the GBF and shed light on a nature-based solution for how Official Development Assistance (ODA) could be deployed. Such ODA could ensure the global protection of these charismatic and threatened species, while contributing to the financing of the GBF. Our work emphasises the economic value of marine megafauna ecosystem services provided “on the move” across jurisdictions and highlights the economic value of conserving marine megafauna, our global heritage.
Living shorelines aim to enhance the resilience of coastlines to hazards while simultaneously delivering co-benefits such as carbon sequestration. Despite the potential ecological and socio-economic ...benefits of living shorelines over conventional engineered coastal protection structures, application is limited globally. Australia has a long and diverse coastline that provides prime opportunities for living shorelines using beaches and dunes, vegetation, and biogenic reefs, which may be either natural (‘soft’ approach) or with an engineered structural component (‘hybrid’ approach). Published scientific studies, however, have indicated limited use of living shorelines for coastal protection in Australia. In response, we combined a national survey and interviews of coastal practitioners and a grey and peer-reviewed literature search to (1) identify barriers to living shoreline implementation; and (2) create a database of living shoreline projects in Australia based on sources other than scientific literature. Projects included were those that had either a primary or secondary goal of protection of coastal assets from erosion and/or flooding. We identified 138 living shoreline projects in Australia through the means sampled starting in 1970; with the number of projects increasing through time particularly since 2000. Over half of the total projects (59 %) were considered to be successful according to their initial stated objective (i.e., reducing hazard risk) and 18 % of projects could not be assessed for their success based on the information available. Seventy percent of projects received formal or informal monitoring. Even in the absence of peer-reviewed support for living shoreline construction in Australia, we discovered local and regional increases in their use. This suggests that coastal practitioners are learning on-the-ground, however more generally it was stated that few examples of living shorelines are being made available, suggesting a barrier in information sharing among agencies at a broader scale. A database of living shoreline projects can increase knowledge among practitioners globally to develop best practice that informs technical guidelines for different approaches and helps focus attention on areas for further research.
Display omitted
•The application of living shorelines is not well-captured in scientific literature.•Projects were extracted from a survey and interviews with coastal practitioners.•At least 178 linear kms of living shorelines through 138 projects have been installed.•The database contributes to knowledge sharing globally to develop best practice.
Prioritising investments to minimise or mitigate natural hazards such as wildfires and storms is of increasing importance to hazard managers. Prioritisation of this type can be strengthened by ...considering benefit and cost impacts. To evaluate benefits and costs, managers require an understanding of both the tangible economic benefits and costs of mitigation decisions, and the often intangible values associated with environmental, social and health-related outcomes. We review the state of non-market valuation studies that provide monetary equivalent estimates for the intangible benefits and costs that can be affected by natural hazard events or their mitigation. We discuss whether managers can usefully call upon these available estimates, with a view to using the benefit transfer approach to include non-market values in economic decision frameworks. Additional context-specific non-market valuation studies are required to provide a more accurate selection of value estimates for natural hazard decision making. Decision making would benefit from considering these values explicitly in prioritising natural hazard investments.
The creation of a marine reserve network is an active area of policy in Australia. Here, a discrete choice experiment is used to estimate how the community values the ecology of the Ningaloo Marine ...Park, with a view to understanding the drivers of social welfare in relation to marine conservation. A novel aspect of this research is that it not only considers the values people hold for conservation outcomes, but also their preferences for how those outcomes are achieved. The results indicate that management process does have an impact on individuals’ preferences for conservation. By considering management process within the choice model, we gain a richer understanding of the relationship between social welfare and marine conservation.
La création d'un réseau de réserves marines est un secteur de politique actif en Australie. Dans la présente étude, nous avons utilisé un modèle de choix discrets pour estimer l'importance que la communauté accorde à l'écologie du parc marin de Ningaloo et pour comprendre les éléments du bien‐être collectif par rapport à la conservation marine. Cette étude comporte un nouvel aspect, en ce sens qu'elle ne tient pas compte uniquement de la valeur que la communauté accorde aux résultats de la conservation, mais aussi de leurs préférences quant aux moyens mis en œuvre pour les obtenir. Les résultats de notre étude indiquent que le processus de gestion a un impact sur les préférences des individus en matière de conservation. Le fait d'inclure le processus de gestion dans le modèle de choix discrets permet de mieux comprendre le lien qui existe entre le bien‐être collectif et la conservation marine.
•We compare public and expert preferences for biodiversity conservation in Australia.•Preferences do not align.•Expert-driven conservation planning may therefore not account for public interests.•We ...integrate public non-market values into systematic conservation planning.
The use of systematic conservation planning to establish conservation priorities will not necessarily attract sufficient public and policy support if the process does not explicitly consider public preferences. The Southwest Australia Ecoregion Initiative presented an opportunity to examine whether an expert-driven, systematic conservation planning process was likely to reflect public preferences for biodiversity conservation. Specifically, a discrete choice experiment was administered to both scientists and the public to generate non-market values for protecting a set of key conservation features, relevant to the planning exercise. The study demonstrates that conservation preferences differ between scientists and the public. With this finding in mind, a novel approach is outlined for incorporating non-market values – derived from a choice experiment – into a systematic conservation planning framework.
PDF
