Testing the influence of substitutes in nature valuation by using spatial discounting factors

This paper investigates the effect of nearby nature substitutes on preferences for nature restoration. Previous studies have generally approached the substitution question by looking into competing destinations. We evaluate substitutes from the respondent’s viewpoint. We use a contextual approach relying on densities of nature substitutes within various ranges from each respondent’s home. This approach has the advantage of allowing the consideration of the direct, indirect and non-use values of nature. Data from three similar discrete choice experiments carried out in Flanders (northern Belgium) are compared. Different spatial discounting factors are tested to better understand how the substitution effect behaves with regard to distance. Latent class analyses are performed to account for preference heterogeneity among respondents. Our results show divergent behaviours across groups of respondents. The “distance-to-substitutes” affects the way respondents rank substitutes and we observe a significant influence of the squared average buffer distance. However, this effect varies in sign across case studies and classes of respondents. Our research calls for further investigation of the influence of taste heterogeneity and nature perception on people’s capacity to value nature. The eligibility of potential nature substitutes and what contributes to their relative attractiveness compared to other substitutes, deserve further exploration in future research.