How much are Floridians willing to pay for protecting sea turtles from sea level rise?
File(s)
Accepted version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Sea level rise (SLR) is posing a great inundation
risk to coastal areas. Some coastal nesting species, including
sea turtle species, have experienced diminished habitat from
SLR. Contingent valuation method (CVM) was used in an
effort to assess the economic loss impacts of SLR on sea turtle
nesting habitats for Florida coasts; and to elicit values of willingness
to pay (WTP) of Central Florida residents to implement
certain mitigation strategies, which would protect Florida’s east
coast sea turtle nesting areas. Using the open-ended and
dichotomous choice CVM, we sampled residents of two Florida
communities: Cocoa Beach and Oviedo. We estimated the
WTP of households from these two cities to protect sea turtle
habitat to be between $42 and $57 per year for 5 years. Additionally,
we attempted to assess the impact of the both the
respondents’ demographics and their perception toward various
situations on their WTP value. Findings include a negative
correlation between the age of a respondent and the probability
of an individual willing to pay the hypothetical WTP amount.
We found that WTP of an individual was not dependent on
prior knowledge of the effects of SLR on sea turtle habitat. The
greatest indicators of whether or not an individual was willing
to pay to protect sea turtle habitat were the respondents’ perception
regarding the trustworthiness and efficiency of the
party which will implement the conservation measures and
their confidence in the conservation methods used. Respondents
who perceive sea turtles having an effect on their life were
also more likely to pay.
risk to coastal areas. Some coastal nesting species, including
sea turtle species, have experienced diminished habitat from
SLR. Contingent valuation method (CVM) was used in an
effort to assess the economic loss impacts of SLR on sea turtle
nesting habitats for Florida coasts; and to elicit values of willingness
to pay (WTP) of Central Florida residents to implement
certain mitigation strategies, which would protect Florida’s east
coast sea turtle nesting areas. Using the open-ended and
dichotomous choice CVM, we sampled residents of two Florida
communities: Cocoa Beach and Oviedo. We estimated the
WTP of households from these two cities to protect sea turtle
habitat to be between $42 and $57 per year for 5 years. Additionally,
we attempted to assess the impact of the both the
respondents’ demographics and their perception toward various
situations on their WTP value. Findings include a negative
correlation between the age of a respondent and the probability
of an individual willing to pay the hypothetical WTP amount.
We found that WTP of an individual was not dependent on
prior knowledge of the effects of SLR on sea turtle habitat. The
greatest indicators of whether or not an individual was willing
to pay to protect sea turtle habitat were the respondents’ perception
regarding the trustworthiness and efficiency of the
party which will implement the conservation measures and
their confidence in the conservation methods used. Respondents
who perceive sea turtles having an effect on their life were
also more likely to pay.
Date Issued
2015-08-30
Date Acceptance
2015-08-07
Citation
Environmental Management, 2015, 57 (1), pp.176-188
ISSN
0364-152X
Publisher
Springer Verlag (Germany)
Start Page
176
End Page
188
Journal / Book Title
Environmental Management
Volume
57
Issue
1
Copyright Statement
© Springer-Verlag 2015. The final publication is available at Springer via https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00267-015-0590-1
Subjects
Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Environmental Sciences
Environmental Sciences & Ecology
Sea level rise
Sea turtle
Ecosystem service valuation
Contingent valuation
Florida
CHOICE CONTINGENT VALUATION
TO-PAY
ECOSYSTEM SERVICES
BIAS
BENEFITS
IMPACTS
COAST
RIVER
Publication Status
Published