Towards an ecosystem approach for understanding public values concerning marine biodiversity loss

Abstract

Recent European legislation requires the adoption of an ecosystem-based approach for managing marine systems in which societal values and good science contribute to attainment of 'good environmental status' for Europe's seas by 2020. At present, there is a lack of studies that consider public values for marine biodiversity changes taking into account the cultural diversity within Europe. We used a contingent valuation survey to explore respondents' marginal willingness to pay (WTP) and motivations to prevent 3 levels of species loss (10, 25 and 50%) as compared to current levels for fish and all marine species. The survey was undertaken in 2 sites: the Azores islands (NE Atlantic) and the Gulf of Gdansk (Baltic Sea). Results, based on 747 interviews, showed that motivations underlying WTP for marine species conservation encompassed primarily bequest values and direct use values. Respondents from different locations differed in their attitudes and values towards marine biodiversity conservation. Scope tests revealed significant differences in WTP for different levels of species loss; however the magnitudes of the scope sensitivity were constrained by a lack of awareness about the consequences of biodiversity changes and the welfare tradeoffs involved. This result highlights the need for the scientific community to better communicate knowledge about the link between biodiversity changes and human wellbeing and to embrace a fuller dialogue between policymakers and the public. A successful ecosystem based approach must accommodate the diversity of preferences and hence may need to be adapted to reflect regional diversity within Europe.

The value of time in biological conservation and supplied ecosystem services: A willingness to give up time exercise

“…Ressurreição et al 2012). The significant positive relationships found between environmental interest (as indicated by respondents visiting protected areas) and supporting conservation initiatives were also consistent with the results of other studies (e.g.…”

“…The WTT conducted to study the non-monetary value of biodiversity and supplied ES received strong social support, being protest responses substantially lower (7.3% and 5.5% for the WTTB and WTTES exercises, respectively) than the usual percentages (approximately 15e25%) reported for WTP (e.g. Chen and Jim, 2010;García-Llorente et al 2011;Ressurreição et al 2012).…”

Beyond the “General Public”: Implications of Audience Characteristics for Promoting Species Conservation in the Western Ghats Hotspot, India

“…3). This is not surprising given the expected professional bias of the former group and mimics results in Europe where respondents with a positive environmental attitude or behavior were willing to pay more for marine conservation (Ressurreição et al 2012a). For local communities the existence of human-wildlife conflicts, which although at low frequency has a pronounced impact in terms of human injuries/deaths and financial losses (Kumar 2006;Takahashi et al 2012) can explain the lower overall scores given to the different species.…”

Integrating marine ecosystem conservation and ecosystems services economic valuation: Implications for coastal zones governance

“…The scientific community is currently communicating inefficiently to policymakers and the public what is the link between biodiversity changes and human wellbeing (Adamowicz 2004;Ressurreiç ão et al, 2012), and a more complete dialogue between all stakeholders must be undertaken in order to better manage protected areas and promote coastal zone conservation.…”