title: Valuing the benefits of improved marine environmental quality under multiple stressors.
abstract: Many marine ecosystems are under increasing pressure from multiple stressors. In the Baltic Sea, these stressors include oil and chemical spills from shipping, nutrient run-off from land and the introduction of non-indigenous species. All of these pressures have been growing over recent years. Increasing pressures lead to reductions in environmental quality, which produce negative effects on human well-being. In this paper, the choice experiment method is used to estimate the benefits to people in Estonia resulting from reductions in pressure from multiple stressors in the Baltic Sea. The main results show that, firstly, respondents have a positive, statistically-significant willingness to pay to reduce each of the three stressors analysed. Secondly, the average willingness to pay for the improvement in the quality of all Estonian marine waters to achieve Good Environmental Status is around 65 euro per household per year, with a 95% confidence interval of 48-77 euro. Thirdly, the greatest share of value of this total economic benefit is derived from the willingness to pay for reductions in the risk of large scale oil and chemical spills.
authors.affiliation: Stockholm Environment Institute Tallinn Centre, Estonia.
authors.forename: Heidi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tuhkanen
authors.affiliation: Stockholm Environment Institute Tallinn Centre, Estonia.
authors.forename: Evelin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Piirsalu
authors.affiliation: Stockholm Environment Institute Tallinn Centre, Estonia.
authors.forename: Tea
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nõmmann
authors.affiliation: Stockholm Environment Institute Tallinn Centre, Estonia.
authors.forename: Aljona
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Karlõševa
authors.affiliation: Stockholm Environment Institute Tallinn Centre, Estonia.
authors.forename: Sulev
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nõmmann
authors.affiliation: University of Warsaw, Department of Economics, Poland.
authors.forename: Mikołaj
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Czajkowski
authors.affiliation: University of St Andrews, Department of Geography and Sustainable Development, UK. Electronic address: ndh3@st-andrews.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Nick
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hanley
mesh_terms: D001454:Baltic States; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000191:economics*; D017753:Ecosystem; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D004957:Estonia; D005068:Eutrophication; D012767:Ships; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis; D014877:Water Pollution, Chemical / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
chemical_list: D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
keywords: Choice experiments; Eutrophication; Good Environmental Status; Marine Strategy Framework Directive; Marine water quality; Multiple stressors; Non-indigenous species; Oil and chemical spills