Revisiting a Water Conflict in Southeastern Oklahoma 6 Years Later: A New Valuation of the Willingness to Pay for Ecosystem Services

Abstract

In recent years, researchers have begun to adopt a perspective evaluating “winners and losers” regarding the consumption and value of ecosystem services. “Winners” tend to benefit from the ecosystem service and “losers” absorb most associated costs. Our study focuses on water use in Oklahoma (USA) and a plan to divert water from the Kiamichi River in southeastern Oklahoma for consumption at residences in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. Our study is, in part, a follow-up from an initial 2013 survey of Oklahoma City residents and residents of the Kiamichi. For this paper, a survey was distributed within the state of Oklahoma to evaluate changes to ecosystem service willingness to pay and valuation. This survey also included an experimental element assessing if exposure to additional information about ecosystem services influenced respondents on ecosystem service valuation, or willingness to pay. Our results generally aligned with those found in the 2013 survey. Oklahoma City residents are not aware of where their water is coming from and are not willing to pay to protect ecosystem services, despite an overall increase in activism. Our results indicate that a smaller number of significant factors determining willingness to pay for ecosystem service maintenance were identified than the study in 2013. Exposure to additional information had no effect on peoples’ preferences. We found that public opinion surrounding environmental support is context-specific, political conservatism may not always impede valuation of environmental protections. We conclude that cultural, moral, and political values interact in their influence on expressions of valuation and willingness to pay for ecosystem services.

Farmers’ Willingness to Pay for Services to Ensure Sustainable Agricultural Income in the GAP-Harran Plain, Şanlıurfa, Turkey

“…Because of the increase in the level of knowledge, the individual would be motivated to learn new things [61]. A study conducted in Oklahoma, USA found that culture is an effective determinant of the WTP for a sustainable ecosystem system [62]. Again, another study in China found that educated people showed more WTP for income derived from a sustainable ecosystem [25].…”

Integrated Multi-Attribute Preference Analysis in Fisheries and Solar Power Symbiosis Areas: A Case Study in Cigu, Taiwan

“…Conversely, this study finds that gender and education level of the tourists and local residents influence their choice preferences and, therefore, deduces that women give more importance to environment conservation (similar to [75,76]) and those with higher education have better awareness of sustainable development (similar to [77,78]). However, this phenomenon does not exist among aquaculture farmers.…”

“…Education also appears to be crucial in affecting environmental WTP. Highly educated people show higher levels of concern about the environment [77,78]. Therefore, relevant preferential activities can be provided, such as teacher certificate discounts, postgraduate discounts, student discounts and women-related products, etc.…”

Integrating Environmental, Geographical and Social Data to Assess Sustainability in Hydrographic Basins: The ESI Approach

“…Water resource management is of considerable importance in achieving sustainable human development, as water use takes many forms, including food production, health conditions, the security of domestic water supply and basic sanitation [64,65].…”