Study on the Non-market values of the environmental benefits of the ecological restoration program

Abstract

The Ecological Restoration Program undertaken by the Chinese Government in the Upper Reaches of the Yangtze River provides an array of environmental goods and services such as reduced water-induced soil erosion, air purification and biodiversity conservation. The non-market values of the environmental benefits derived from the ecological restoration program in Sichuan Province were estimated using the choice modeling (CM) approach both on-site in Chengdu and off-site in Shanghai. Separate choice models were estimated for the two sites and the results compared. No significant differences were found between the implicit price estimates derived from the multinomial Logit model. (MNL) and the random parameter Logit (RPL) models for the environmental attributes. Results show that the sampled urban population both on-site and off-site are willing to pay for the environmental services provided by the ecological restoration program. Based on the results from the RPL models, the average willingness to pay per respondent household in Chengdu was CNY1062.55 each year for the environmental improvements provided by the Program, a payment level not significantly different from the comparable estimates of CNY962.72 in Shanghai.