Measuring public perception and preferences for ecosystem services: A case study of bee pollination in the UK

There is concern that insect pollinators, such as bees, are currently declining in abundance, and are under serious threat from factors such as increased use of certain pesticides, land use changes, competition from invasive alien species, pathogens, parasites and climate change. Using the contingent valuation (CV) method, this paper evaluates how much public support there would be in preventing further decline to maintain the current number of bees by estimating the willingness to pay (WTP) for a theoretical bee protection policy in the UK. We apply the CV method as an estimation of public perception and preferences for pollination services. The mean WTP to support the bee protection policy was approximately £43 per household per year. Based on the 30.6 million taxpayers in the UK, this is equivalent to £842 million per year. This value can provide a means of illustrating the total value of public support for maintaining pollination services to policy makers and stakeholders.