Estimating Non-Use Values of Improved Water Quality and Biodiversity from a Discrete Choice Experiment on Watershed Protection Measures

This paper measures the non-use values of water and biodiversity protection in a watershed in eastern France. It is generally assumed that measures to protect water quality generate direct use values for water consumers, and that the use and non-use values of biodiversity improvement are difficult to disentangle. We conducted a discrete choice experiment with a population of non-users to estimate the willingness to pay (WTP) for restrictions on pesticide and fertiliser use on agricultural land, hedgerow protection and planting, watercourse restoration and sustainable forest management. The mixed logit estimation results show significant positive preferences for measures that have positive impacts on water quality and biodiversity, but with strong heterogeneity in preferences for the different environmental attributes. We then explore this heterogeneity by first estimating the effect of individual characteristics on preferences for the status quo (no environmental project) and then regressing marginal WTP for each attribute on the individual variables. While individuals show strong opposition to the status quo and clear preferences for environmental attributes, we can see some trends in the effect of individual characteristics on the status quo choice, such as people with low levels of education or people who always drink bottled water. However, distance to the watershed has no significant effect on the status quo choice.