Using choice Experiments to understand public preferences for reducing Lead-Based ammunition for environmental and health improvements in wetlands ecosystems

Document Type

Article

Source of Publication

Journal for Nature Conservation

Publication Date

3-1-2025

Abstract

Understanding individual values people hold can be frequently overlooked in policy planning. All too often, the estimation of these associated costs and benefits become restricted to one area or discipline without recognising the offsetting or compounding effects in other areas of society or economics. Habitat management changes are no exception here, where different management scenarios create a complex range of values involving financial, social, environmental and health trade-offs that can rarely be captured through market data or user surveys. Lead is highly toxic to animals and people, yet lead-based ammunition persistently accumulates in the European environment annually. In light of proposed legislative changes to further restrict the use of lead ammunition in both the EU and Great Britain, this study uses a Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE) to establish a comprehensive profile of valuation. This offered a UK representative sample of 2097 respondents choices between various hypothetical wetlands management scenarios that included eliciting their preferences for reducing risks associated with pollution from lead ammunition. By including attributes within each scenario relating to financial cost, health risks and environmental status, we elicit both absolute and relative values held for these distinct but related socio-economic aspects. Our results show that people illustrate a positive Willingness To Pay (WTP) for enhancements in environmental quality and bird populations, as well as a strong preference to lower the risks from lead to both human and environmental health. Although not altogether surprising, the magnitudes of these preferences demonstrate that high environmental quality and lowered risks to human health are rated most important, and more prominently and consistently than the values given for higher bird populations or reduced environmental risk. These results were robust to different model specifications and sampling analyses, These findings are undoubtedly insightful within the legislative context and beyond. By exploring the implications for our health and the environment, this study provides a benchmark for policy in terms of offering a suitable weight to multiple non-marketable values that exist in this context, as well as doing so in a more broad and holistic method than through a narrowly focused survey or with a specific user group.

ISSN

1617-1381

Publisher

Elsevier BV

Volume

84

Disciplines

Environmental Sciences

Keywords

Biodiversity Conservation, Environmental Valuation, Public Policy

Scopus ID

85212981032

Indexed in Scopus

yes

Open Access

no

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