title: Estimating the economic value of improvements in river ecology using choice experiments: an application to the water framework directive.
abstract: The Water Framework Directive is a major regulatory reform of water resources management within the European Union. Integrated catchment management plans must be prepared for all river basins, in order to achieve 'good ecological status' in all EU waters. Ecological status is a broader measure of water quality than the chemical and biological measures that were previously dominant. The Directive calls for a consideration of the economic costs and benefits of improvements to ecological status. In this paper, we use the choice experiment method to estimate the value of improvements in three components of ecological status. Given the high resource cost of valuation studies, benefits transfer methods will be needed in implementing the Directive. We thus also test the ability of choice experiments for benefits transfer across two very similar rivers in the UK.
authors.affiliation: Economics Department, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, Scotland. n.d.hanley@stir.ac.uk
authors.forename: Nick
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hanley
authors.forename: Robert E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Wright
authors.forename: Begona
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Alvarez-Farizo
mesh_terms: D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000191:economics* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D003625:Data Collection; D004463:Ecology; D004739:England; D004954:Esthetics; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D045483:Rivers; D012606:Scotland; D014876:Water Pollution / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000517:prevention & control