Valuation of environmental improvements in coastal wetland restoration: A choice experiment approach

This study was conducted to value the environmental improvements in coastal wetland restoration in Ximen Island Special Marine Protected Area, China. A choice experiment was employed to estimate the welfare changes of providing different coastal wetland restoration scenarios. Respondents were randomly selected for data collection through face to face interviews. Both conditional logit model and random parameters logit model were employed in this study to estimate the individual utility associated with the wetland attributes. The results suggested that people valued positive benefits of coastal wetland restoration, as it could improve the levels of mangrove area, water quality and biodiversity. The mangrove area was the most important attribute which need to be considered in the restoration strategy design, as it had the highest marginal willingness to pay value. The compensating surplus of specified wetland restoration scenarios were calculated and the values increased from modest coastal wetland restoration scenario to ambitious coastal wetland restoration scenario. The information derived from the study could be helpful for policy makers to determine coastal wetland restoration strategy for the Ximen Island Special Marine Protected Area.