Values, Social Dominance Orientation (SDO), and Pro-Environmental Beliefs: A 20-Nation Study

The predictive value of Social Dominance Orientation (SDO) and Human Values on the beliefs that (1) human activity is causing climate change, and that (2) governments of the world should act together to reduce global carbon emissions are examined in 20 countries. We also examined whether country level variables (e.g., environmental performance index - EPI) would influence such relationships. With representative samples from 20 countries (Wave 1 = 21,362; Wave 2 = 8,174), and using multilevel regressions, results showed negative effects of SDO and positive effects of the value dimensions of existence, suprapersonal, and interactive on environmental concerns. Cross-level interactions found that existence values (e.g. valuing health) were a stronger predictor of pro-environmental beliefs in countries with lower EPI scores. In countries with higher EPI scores (and people less exposed to potentially damaging consequences from climate change), suprapersonal values (e.g., valuing beauty) showed stronger relationships with environmental concerns.

Exploring the Non-Use Value of Important Agricultural Heritage System: Case of Lingnan Litchi Cultivation System (Zengcheng) in Guangdong, China

For the past decade, Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (IAHSs) have become research hotspots because of their rapidly increasing number. The non-use value is an important part of the value of an IAHS, and if ignored, the total value of an IAHS may be underestimated in part. Litchi is native to southern China, and its farming system is an important agricultural heritage with Chinese characteristics and global influence. In this context, the present study attempts to investigate the willingness to pay (WTP) of local residents and assess the non-use value of the Lingnan Litchi Cultivation System (Zengcheng) in Guangdong, China. To this aim, a survey was implemented on four sites in Zengcheng with the application of the contingent valuation method (CVM). Based on the analysis of 458 questionnaires, the WTP rate of residents in the heritage site is 66.6%, and the mean WTP is 62.5 Chinese yuan (CNY) per year. The total non-use value of the Lingnan Litchi Cultivation System (Zengcheng) is 49.9 million CNY. The option, bequest, and existence values in 2018 are estimated to be 20.1, 13.7, and 16.1 million CNY, respectively. Results of the logistic regression analysis indicate that variables of age, education level, financial burden, and heritage value cognition are significant factors of WTP for protecting litchi heritage. Compared with similar studies in China, the mean WTP and positive payment rate in this study are at a medium level. Resource attributes and local cultures may have significant impacts on the composition and estimate of the non-use value of an IAHS. The results of this study can be beneficial to the dynamic conservation and adaptive management of IAHSs.

Willingness to Pay for Forest Existence Value and Sustainability

Uganda is richly endowed with flora and fauna. Until the early 2000s, most of the types of vegetation have remained natural/virgin forests and shrubs until recent years, when human activities have damaged them. Understanding the different ways that people value such endangered forest resources is very important. The main hypothesis in our study is that willingness to pay (WTP) for forest existence value and sustainability depends on the preference for the same values. In addition, we examined socioeconomic characteristics, such as sex, education, and household incomes, which could influence the WTP for forest existence value and sustainability. We carried out field questionnaire interviews with the aim of ascertaining Willingness to Pay (WTP) for forest existence. The WTP values were in a range between 1 and 200 USD based on the contingent valuation method (CVM). A sample with a size of 203 was interviewed in selected towns and villages in Uganda, and the data collected were subjected to statistical analysis. The cross-tabulation of the expressed preferences illustrates that 81.9% of the representative sample are willing to pay for forest existence value and sustainability. We concluded that the willingness to pay for forest existence significantly depends on the preference for forest existence values and sustainability. Our results equally express that the mean WTP in this region is 15 USD per year and that over 60% are willing to pay this amount. The socioeconomic determinants’ results demonstrate heterogeneity and that over 90% of the respondents are willing to pay for forest existence, conservation, and sustainability.

Is Existence Value Appropriate for Regulatory Benefit–Cost Analysis?

Since its introduction to the field of environmental and natural resource economics in the late 1960s, existence value has faced several critiques from economists, psychologists, and philosophers. Critics have taken aim at the notion’s conceptual ambiguity and lack of connection to observable behavior, its incompatibility with cognitive processes and its sensitivity to cognitive biases, and ethical shortcomings in applying existence values to environmental decisionmaking. Unlike some critiques of existence value that draw on cognitive and ethical frameworks for decisionmaking fundamentally at odds with stated preference methods and benefit–cost analysis (BCA), this paper takes as given the use and adequacy of both. It focuses on challenges to existence value per se, with respect to the ability of existence value estimates to contribute to benefit–cost analyses in a way that is consistent with qualities of BCA that its proponents value: the objectivity, commensurability, and moral salience of the values analyzed. In light of the challenges, inclusion of existence value in benefit–cost analyses is found to inevitably compromise the quality of the BCA with respect to each criterion.

A Value for the Non-Valued

The ecosystem has its intrinsic value while offering an extrinsic satisfaction to humans. Ecosystem resources are devalued in the economic valuing process when a monetary value is difficult in assigning to the ‘non-use' effects of the separated functions of the ecosystem. There is a tendency to forego the value of the ecosystem, the bequest or existence values, although it offers some utility of satisfaction. This trade-off decision leads to detrimental effects on the survival of organisms. The chapter allows the decision-maker to identify the non-use ecosystem resources with an ‘off-trade' value for the production process through Reflective Analysis, systems theory and feed-in indicators. The off-trade decision would enable the sustainability of organisms in the ecological system with their interwoven functions intact and not exposed to bargaining as separated parts. As a result, it would help the regeneration of the valued resources for economic valuing process.