Community values for environmental protection in a cane farming catchment in Northern Australia: A choice modelling study

Choice modelling is an emerging approach to estimating the non-use values o f environmental services with multiple attributes. In this paper, results a re reported of a choice modelling study conducted in the Herbert River Dist rict of North Queensland to estimate the value placed on the protection of natural vegetation in areas suitable for cane production by the local commu nity. Resource use options that vary in the level of environmental protecti on and the level of agricultural production were presented as a series of c hoice sets and respondents were asked to choose among a set of three discre te alternatives in a given choice set. The alternatives in each choice set were described by four attributes, pertaining to the area of teatree woodla nds, the area of vegetation along rivers and in wetlands, regional income f rom cane production, and an environmental levy. The responses were analysed together with socio-economic data using a nested-logit discrete-choice mod el to estimate the community willingness-to-pay for the protection of natur al vegetation. The results indicate that the environmental values of wetlan ds are comparable to returns from commercial production of sugar cane and t hat the values of teatree woodlands are comparable to returns from extensiv e grazing. It is argued that land allocation policies should recognise thes e values in tandem with commercial benefits of production to ensure that re sources are used more efficiently. (C) 2001 Academic Press.