Stated preference surveys of remnant native vegetation conservation

Improving the conservation status of remnant native vegetation on private property(RNV) has a number of economic benefits. RNV can contribute to on-farmproductivity through provision of unimproved grazing, timber products and stockshelter. It may contribute to enhancing the productivity of downstream propertiesthough amelioration of land degradation associated with salinity, water quality declineand soil erosion. The Australian community might also place value on certainattributes of RNV such as its scenic amenity and contribution to biodiversityconservation. Where these community values can be expressed in terms of trade-offsbetween RNV conservation and other things of value such as personal disposableincome, they can be assessed using economic methods. It is these community valueswhich are the subject of this paper.Economic values held by the community for RNV conservation are nonmarket innature. Since they are not revealed directly in the market place, and cannot beindirectly recovered though surrogate market techniques, they can only be assessedusing stated preference methods. The most widely research stated preference method iscontingent valuation (CV). Concerns about the validity of CV data have limited theiruse in environmental policy development, especially in Australia. The relatively newtechnique of choice modelling (CM) may offer a means of addressing such concerns.In addition, CM can enable more detailed exploration of participants’ preferences acrossdifferent quantities and qualities of the good being valued. We used both CV and CMto assess the nonmarket economic values of RNV in two study areas - northeast Victoriaand the southern Riverina of NSW. Results from the two methods were notsignificantly different, providing evidence of convergent validity. However, the CMmodels have the advantage that they can be adjusted to take into account differentpolicy options, and the associated welfare estimates also have narrower confidenceintervals than those derived from CV models. Using the best CM model, aggregatecompensating surpluses for improved conservation management of RNV in the southernRiverina of NSW and northeast Victoria were estimated to be $81 million and $59million respectively.