Willingness to Pay for Ecosystem Services among Stakeholder Groups in a South-Central US Watershed with Regional Conflict

摘要

Ecosystem services valuation has become a popular approach to weighing trade-offs in environmental management, particularly where natural resources such as freshwater are limited. The authors assessed multiple stakeholders' social perception regarding a suite of ecosystem services in a south-central U.S. watershed that is water stressed and experiencing intense sociopolitical conflict. First, the ecosystem service beneficiaries were identified and characterized according to how they use and value ecosystem services. Second, the factors underlying social importance and economic support for maintaining these ecosystem services were analyzed. Finally, a willingness to pay approach was used to identify the economic value of services and explored potential biases in water management based on social and cultural attributes. Results (1)identified habitat for species and water quality as the most important and economically valuable ecosystem services, respectively, and (2)uncovered potential conflicts between water user groups based on whether or not they resided in the watershed. The authors suggest managers can use results (1)for dealing with water conflicts by examining stakeholder group attitudes toward specific services, and (2)to quantify the economic value of ecosystem services currently invisible in decision-making domains.