Applying contingent valuation in China to measure the total economic value of restoring ecosystem services in Ejina region

By Zhongmin Xu, G. Cheng, Zhiqiang Zhang, Zhilong Su, Jackson Loomis. 2003

191 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract This paper reports an attempt to apply the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) in rural China. The CVM was used to obtain estimates of willingness to pay for restoring Ejina ecosystem services. In our survey, we used a payment card format and a 12-page survey booklet with maps depicting the reasons why Ejina ecosystem deteriorated, the means by which ecosystem services could be restored from their current level. We used an in-person interview along with the survey booklet. We employed a parametric model to estimate the benefits of restoring Ejina ecosystem. Results from 700 in-person interviews indicate that households would pay an average of 19.37 (RMB) per year with 20.78 per household for the main river area, and 16.41 per household for the rest of Hei basin. The aggregate benefit to residents of the Hei basin is 8.84 million annually for 20 years. Taking into account an environmental discount rate calculated by using respondent's equivalent utility between periodical payments and lump sum payments, the present value of aggregate benefit of restoring Ejina ecosystem is 55.33 million. These results suggest that the general public in Hei Valley would be willing to pay to restore the Ejina ecosystem, although this amount is substantially less than the estimated costs of restoration.

Subfields: Economics and Econometrics, Global and Planetary Change

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/87ef3fad1bbf7379a13011e065717b5b64a1db32

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Citations in the corpus

The Economics of Managing Scarce Water Resources (2010, background): “Another CV analysis suggests that there may be significant benefits to restoring flows in the Ejina River in China, which currently runs dry during the peak irrigation season (Zhongmin et al. 2003).”
Protest response and willingness to pay for culturally significant urban trees: Implications for Contingent Valuation Method (2015, background): “In keeping with this assumption, zero bids are often identified as either ‘true’ or protest zero (Ferreira and Gallagher, 2010; Grammatikopoulou and Olsen, 2013; Jakobsson and Dragun, 2001; Xu et al., 2003).”
Are There Income Effects on Global Willingness to Pay for Biodiversity Conservation? (2009, background): “Studies included in the meta-analysis Preservation plan for brown hare, red squirrel No Yes 2 Zhongmin et al. (2003) 2001 China Restoring ecosystem services (habitat, protection against soil erosion, etc.) Yes No 1”
Integrated study of the water–ecosystem–economy in the Heihe River Basin (2014, background): “assessed the economic losses caused by environmental degradation [66], the economic value of restoring an ecosystem [67] and the weighted benefits and costs of alternative ecosystem management strategies [68], including monetary and non-monetary benefits and costs.”
Contingent valuation, net marginal benefits, and the scale of riparian ecosystem restoration (2004, methodology): “Zhongmin et al. (2003) estimated the benefits and costs of restoring ecosystem services in the Hei River basin in China using a holistic approach to valuation, similar to the method used by Loomis et al. (2000).”