How do people want to pay for ecosystem services?

LEI

Nico Polman, Arianne de Blaeij en Vincent Linderhof

2008

Objective

Research questions:

How do people with a preference for landscape

improvements want to pay for these improvements?

And subsequently.

What are the explanatory factors of the preference

for a specific payment vehicle?

What is the preferred institutional mechanism,

according to the population?

Approach

1. Review of the international literature on

institutional economies and valuation methods:

The focus of the review is the institutional

arrangements for paying for ecosystem services.

2. Choice experiment on the payment for ecosytem

services: the payment vehicle for ecosystem

system and landscape services is included as an

attribute.

Scientific relevance

1. To compare different types of institutional

arrangements or governance structures for

paying for ecosystem services

2. To provide new insights into consumer

preferences for payment vehicles

3. What payment vehicle for ecosystem system and

landscape services is preferred?

(Inter)national position

1. The combination of theories and methods makes the

project unique.

2. The project links the field of New Institutional Economics

approaches to governance of eco-system services

3. Another link is established to valuation methods.

4. Within SELS the project can be linked to “Payment

systems for ecological services” of Gerdien Meijerink

(PhD-project)

Planned deliverables1. Report on the literature review addressing the

institutional arrangements for paying for ecosytem

services and valuation methods.

2. A conference paper/scientific article based on the

literature review.

3. The design of questionnaire for the choice

experiment. (The actual choice experiment is due

in 2009)