Residential Environment Induced Preference Heterogeneity for River Ecosystem Service Improvements: A Comparison between Urban and Rural Households in the Wei River Basin, China

Abstract

This paper assesses residential environment induced preference heterogeneity regarding ecosystem services improvements of a river basin by comparing urban and rural residents’ welfare estimates. In a choice experiment, the ecological improvements are described in terms of several observable ecological indicators set in an experimental design. Given the fact that economic and environmental conditions differ for urban and rural residents in China, the utility they derive from ecological restoration is hypothesized to differ. The urban and rural residents’ survey data were modeled separately using mixed logit models. The results reveal that water quality and water quantity, measured by unit of level improvement and percentage improvement, respectively, hold the highest marginal utility values in all respondents’ models. Urban and rural residents have the same preference regarding expanding soil erosion control areas and landscape improvement. However, they have statistically significant different utility for water quality, water quantity, forest coverage, ecotourism improvements, and reducing soil erosion intensity. Generally, urban residents express a higher implicit price for most of the ecological indicators. The findings imply that policy makers should take existing preference heterogeneity into account in designing ecosystem payment schemes and allocating resources.

Assessing restoration benefit of grassland ecosystem incorporating preference heterogeneity empirical data from Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region

“…For the standard deviation of random parameters, the herdsmen's preference for vegetation coverage, groundwater level, rare wildlife and grassland landscape are significant at the 1% level, which means that herdsmen's preferences for these attributes have significant heterogeneity and random characteristics. It also reflects the advantages of mixed logit model, which can relax the “independence of irrelevant alternatives” (IIA) assumption, reveal and account for heterogeneity of individual preferences in the restoration of grassland ecosystem ( Hensher and Greene, 2003 , Khan et al, 2019b , Shi et al, 2016a , Shi et al, 2016b ).…”

“…Choice Experiment (CE), which is based on individual preference and behavior, presents participants with opportunity to choose among alternative hypothetical scenarios that differ in effects, is considered to be an empirical method of non-market valuation in the field of natural resources ( Fan and Zhao, 2013 , Khan et al, 2018 ), and is widely used in cultivated land, watershed, wetland, air pollution control, urban ecosystem valuation and policy welfare estimation ( Tan et al, 2012 , Li et al, 2015 , Fan et al, 2016 , Yan et al, 2018 , Shi et al, 2016a , Shi et al, 2016b ). The heterogeneity of individual preference and the difference in ecological product characteristics jointly determine the public's choice behavior.…”

Comparing Ecosystem Service Preferences between Urban and Rural Dwellers

“…correlated with the perception of a larger range of ES and environmental knowledge (Martín-López et al 2012, Pan et al 2016, Soy-Massoni et al 2016 and regulating ES (Caro-Borrero et al 2015) and negatively correlated with the importance of ES for rural areas (Martín-López et al 2012, García-Llorente et al 2016. Income and affluence appeared to positively correlate with ES valuation (Orenstein and Groner 2014), with the willingness to pay for ES (Shi et al 2016), and with the positive perception of payments for ES (Caro-Borrero et al 2015).…”

Public Attitudes, Preferences and Willingness to Pay for River Ecosystem Services

“…This technique also permits the assessment of non-use values [54]. From the perspective of Chinese society, the potential benefits of conservation enhancements in the Wei River Basin are generally unexplored [55]. Thus, assessing the potential welfare estimates obtained from improving river ecosystem services is essential [56,57,58].…”

“…Thus, assessing the potential welfare estimates obtained from improving river ecosystem services is essential [56,57,58]. If we do not value these services, then the fiscal system upon which we depend will continue to favor the over-exploitation of resources and degradation of ecosystem services [55,59]. Estimates of possible benefits can be employed in cost-benefit analyses for governance projects in the Wei river basin.…”