Re-meander, rewet, rewild! Overwhelming public support for restoration of small rivers in the three Baltic Sea basin countries

Marek Giergiczny, Sviataslau Valasiuk, Wiktor Kotowski, Halina Galera, Jette Bredahl Jacobsen, Julian Sagebiel, Wendelin Wichtmann and Ewa Jabłońska
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Marek Giergiczny: Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw
Wiktor Kotowski: University of Warsaw, Biological and Chemical Research Centre, Faculty of Biology
Halina Galera: University of Warsaw, Biological and Chemical Research Centre, Faculty of Biology
Jette Bredahl Jacobsen: University of Copenhagen, Department of Food and Resource Economics, Faculty of Science
Julian Sagebiel: Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Economics
Wendelin Wichtmann: University of Greifswald, Institute for Botany and Landscape Ecology
Ewa Jabłońska: University of Warsaw, Biological and Chemical Research Centre, Faculty of Biology

No 2021-15, Working Papers from Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw

Abstract: Baltic Sea belongs to World’s most oxygen-depletes seas, so the region requires urgent mitigation measures to significantly reduce nitrogen and phosphorus inputs from land through rivers, which cannot be achieved without large-scale restoration of wetland buffer zones. The manuscript summarises the findings of the discrete choice experiment aimed at assessment of the preferences of Danish, German, and Polish citizens towards ecosystem services of lowland small rivers of the Baltic Sea basin. Our results suggest that respondents in all the studied countries are willing to pay substantial amounts to improve water quality in rivers and the Baltic Sea, as well as to restore naturally meandering rivers and natural riparian vegetation. Wild marshes and Wetland agriculture were equally valued as the most desirable options. Respondents systematically cared about the appearance of small rivers in their neighbourhood. We conclude that re-meandering, re-wetting of floodplains, and restoration of wild marshes or development of wetland agriculture could gain a lot of public support in Europe.

Keywords: Baltic Sea; discrete choice experiment; ecosystem services; restoration; small rivers; willingness to pay (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q51 Q57 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 23 pages
Date: 2021
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-env
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:war:wpaper:2021-15

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