The Relationship between the Conception of Nature and Environmental Valuation

As individuals’ relationships with nature become more diverse, so do their conceptions of nature. In this study, the image of nature and derived feelings are defined as the conception of nature. This study aimed to identify the conceptions of nature held by individuals and their influence on environmental valuation. The number of respondents who imagined natural forests when they heard the word “nature” was the highest (58%), followed by those who imagined Satoyama (31%). The factor analysis extracted five feelings toward the image of nature: care, oneness, aversion, mystery, and restorativeness. These feelings differed depending on the image of nature conjured up by individuals. Respondents who imagined natural forests and Satoyama had a higher sense of care, causing higher willingness-to-pay for forest conservation. These results revealed that the image of nature differed from person to person, contrary to previous studies where nature was regarded as predominantly represented by vegetation. Feelings for the image of nature also differed. It can be concluded that an individuals’ conception of nature influences their environmental valuation.

ALTERNATIVE NUMERAIRES FOR MEASURING WELFARE CHANGES: REVIEW OF EMPIRICAL ENVIRONMENTAL VALUATION STUDIES

This study examines numeraire or an account unit that measures household welfare changes. Although money metric usually determines budget constraint, textbook explanations of the alternative metrics are limited. Therefore, the study aimed to fill the existing gap by systematically and qualitatively analysing previously published articles on environmental valuation in developing countries. The results showed the existence of alternative numeraires in working time, commodities, and financing. The alternative metrics are useful in the valuation of environmental goods and services in developing countries, especially those involving poor respondents and underdeveloped monetary transactions. The nonmonetary payments reduce zero bids due to the inability of subsistence people to pay in cash and help the poor express their true environmental values.

The valuation of environmental services in the price formation of native rubber in Acre

The disarticulation of traditional extractionism in the 1960s led to serious socio-economic and environmental problems in the Amazon. The Extractive Reserves (RESEX) arose as a sustainable development alternative for the region. However, the unique challenges in extractive activities – such as native rubber – continue to result in difficulties with economic viability since the market fails to capture the environmental attributes of the forests. These failures may impact the maintenance of eco-systemic services. The payments for environmental services, such as the environmental certification, arise as a way to compensate those who carry out environmental services. The general aim of this study is to evaluate the environmental valuation in the price formation of the rubber productive chain in the state of Acre. We work with the methodology of price formation through trade margin indicators (Markup) and Effective Appropriation according to the structure of the market circuits of the rubber productive chain in the region. Our results indicate that the extractivists of the Chico Mendes RESEX obtained, in the period of 2018/2019, a level of remuneration for their environmental services which may lead to economic viability in rubber production. However, from the standpoint of maintenance of environmental services – as well as the maintenance of the families of the extractivists – that remuneration is still not enough for an effective environmental valuation.

The Neoclassical Decision-Making Paradigm and Environmental Valuation: An Environmental Ethics Perspective

The relationship between environmental ethics and the application of economic values to the environment has followed two main paths: (1) blocking attempts to value the environment economically by extending the concept of moral standing to elements of the natural world, and (2) attempting a pragmatic reconciliation that harnesses the efficacy of economic motivation while avoiding the excesses of an exclusively economic perspective. The pragmatic reconciliation must still come to grips with several ethical issues that confront environmental valuation. The fact that economics is grounded in a utilitarian consequentialism renders it susceptible to some long-standing deontological challenges having to do with rights and justice. Other challenges include a reluctance to embrace value pluralism, overly ambitious attempts at pricing, failure to incorporate deeper value commitments that do not take the form of preferences, and the inadequacies of a preference-satisfaction account of well-being.

Environmental valuation using bargaining games: an application to water

We characterize a general bargaining game useful for environmental valuation purposes. In this game, a jointly endowed asset is divisible into smaller units of two types: those with and without an associated costly attribute. Bargaining parties can use monetary transfers to their counterpart in exchange for accruing more units of the jointly endowed asset. We show that the cost of the attribute is perfectly absorbed by the transfer in a broad set of game solutions. Outcomes differing in the allocation of the units with the costly attribute allows us to identify whether the players' valuation of the attribute corresponds to its value induced in the game (i.e., its cost) or whether this attribute is over-or under-valued. We show an application to the valuation of water in a lab-in-the-field experiment conducted with Colombian farmers. We find evidence that the players' valuation of in-plot access to water dwells between 2.1 and 3.5 times its induced cost in the experiment.