Using Choice Experiments to value River and Estuary Health in Tasmania with Individual Preference Heterogeneity

Choice experiments (CE), also known as choice modelling (CM), are now used widely in environmental valuation in Australia. Many examples assess the trade-offs between river catchment management and socio-economic impacts. There is, however, limited information about the values of Australian estuaries and none of the existing valuation studies addresses catchment management changes in Tasmania. The CE study described in this report aims to elicit community preferences for protecting the rivers and estuary of the George catchment in north-eastern Tasmania. Results from conditional and mixed logit models show that respondents are, on average, willing to pay between $2.47 and $4.46 for a one kilometre increase in native riverside vegetation, and between $9.35 and $10.97 per species for the protection of rare native plants and animals, ceteris paribus. The study results are ambiguous about respondents’ preferences for estuary seagrass area. It also shows significant differences between logit models when accounting for individual heterogeneity, and repeated choices made by individual respondents.