Valuing threatened species, ecosystem types, and ecological communities for ecosystem accounts in the Gunbower-Koondrook-Perricoota (GKP) Forest Icon Site in the Murray-Darling Basin, Australia

Ram Pandit, Michael P. Burton, Kerstin K. Zander, Stephen T. Garnett and David P. Pannell

No 356762, Working Papers from University of Western Australia, School of Agricultural and Resource Economics

Abstract: Ecosystem Accounting (EA) involves tracking the extent, condition, and services provided by ecosystems and linking them to the economy under the international standard developed by the United Nations – System of Environmental-Economic Accounting. Ecosystem assets (species, ecosystems and ecological communities) provide use and non-use benefits to society. A key challenge is how to value non-market benefits that arise from these assets. This study aims to contribute to this challenge by estimating the marginal willingness to pay for key ecosystem assets in the Gunbower-Koondrook-Perricoota (GKP) Forest Icon Site in the Murray-Darling Basin of Australia, as a necessary precursor to identifying an exchange price, from which to derive exchange values. A discrete choice experiment with three types of ecosystem assets as attributes was designed and implemented among the Australian public in 2021. The ecosystem asset attributes were six threatened species (Australian bittern, Painted honeyeater, Superb parrot, Koala, Green-comb spider-orchid, Winged pepper-cress), three ecosystem types (River-swamp wallaby grass, River red gum, Black box) and two species groups or ecological communities (water birds and vascular plants). Collected data was analysed using a mixed-logit model. Findings suggest that the estimated marginal willingness-to-pay (WTP) for improvement in status (population or habitat condition index) of ecosystem assets vary from AU$14.60 per year per household for 20 years for water birds to AU$1.32 for Green-comb spider-orchid.

Keywords: Environmental; Economics; and; Policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 41
Date: 2025-05-05
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:uwauwp:356762

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.356762

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