Protected Area Certificates
Gaining Ground for Better Ecosystem Protection?
- authored by
- Anna Segerstedt, Ulrike Grote
- Abstract
Protected areas are vital to sustain a number of ecosystem services. Yet, many protected areas are underfinanced and lack management effectiveness. Protected area certificates have been suggested as a way to resolve these problems. This instrument would allow land managers to certify an area if it meets certain conservation criteria. The certificates could then be sold on an international market, for example to companies and any consumers that are interested in environmental protection. Some pilot initiatives have been launched, yet little is known about future demand and features of protected area certificates. To fill this knowledge gap, we conduct a choice experiment with close to 400 long-distance tourists from Germany as a potential group of buyers. Our results indicate that the respondents have the highest willingness to pay for certificates that conserve sensitive ecosystems and in addition to this lead to poverty reduction and safeguard water resources. For other attributes such as a greenhouse gas reduction, the preferences are less significant. Overall, the results are rather homogenous irrespective of where the protected areas are located. These insights are important for the future design and marketing of protected area certificates.
- Organisation(s)
-
Institute of Environmental Economics and World Trade
- Type
- Article
- Journal
- Environmental management
- Volume
- 55
- Pages
- 1418-1432
- No. of pages
- 15
- ISSN
- 0364-152X
- Publication date
- 06.2015
- Publication status
- Published
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Global and Planetary Change, Ecology, Pollution
- Sustainable Development Goals
- SDG 1 - No Poverty, SDG 8 - Decent Work and Economic Growth, SDG 15 - Life on Land
- Electronic version(s)
-
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-015-0476-2 (Access:
Closed)