Endangerment and likeability of wildlife species: How important are they for proposed payments for conservation

Examines empirically the relative influence of the degree of endangerment of wildlife species and their stated likeability on individuals’ willingness to pay (WTP) for their conservation. To do this, it utilises data obtained from the IUCN Red List and likeability and WTP data obtained from two serial surveys of a sample of the Australian public who were requested to assess 24 Australian wildlife species in each of three animal classes: mammals, birds and reptiles. Between the first and second survey, respondents were provided with extra information about the focal species. This information resulted in the clear dominance of endangerment as the major influence on the WTP of respondents for the conservation of the focal wildlife species. Our results throw doubts on the proposition in the literature that the likeability of species is the dominant influence on WTP for conservation of wildlife species. Furthermore, our results suggest that the relationship between WTP for the conservation of wildlife in relation to their population levels may be more complex and different to that suggested in some of the literature on ecological economics.

Dynamic processes in contingent valuation: A case study involving the mahogany glider

This paper reports the results of an experiment involving a sample of 204 members of the public who were assessed on three occasions about their willingness to pay for the conservation of the mahogany glider. They were asked this question prior to information being provided to them about the glider and other focal wildlife species; after such information was provided, and finally after participants had had an opportunity to see live specimens of this glider. The mean willingness to pay of the relevant samples are compared and found to show significant variations. Theories are considered that help explain the dynamics of these variations. Serious concerns are raised about the capacity of information provision to reveal ‘true’ contingent valuations of public goods.

Public support for sustainable commercial harvesting of wildlife: An Australian case study

This paper surveys a sample of 204 members of the Australian public to determine their attitude to the sustainable commercial harvesting of wildlife generally, and considers their specific support for the sustainable commercial harvesting of each of 24 Australian native species. The general attitude of the sample to wildlife harvesting is related to their attitude to nature conservation. The relationship between respondents’ support for the sustainable commercial harvesting of each of the species and their degree of endangerment based on IUCN Red List rankings is established and found to be an inverse one. Support for the commercial sustainable use of each of the species is compared with the willingness of respondents to pay for their conservation. Support for sustainable commercial harvesting of species is found to be inversely related to the willingness of respondents to pay is for a particular species’ conservation. In turn, this willingness to pay is found to rise with the degree of endangerment of species. While the likeability of a species has some influence on whether there is support or not for its commercial harvesting, it does not seem to be the predominant influence— the degree of endangerment of a species appears to be the major influence here. Even so, this does not imply majority support for the harvest of all species that are not threatened; rather, majority support for harvest was observed only for some species known to be abundant. None of the species that appear in the Red List have majority support for harvesting. Implications are outlined of the results for the policy of promoting wildlife conservation by means of sustainable use.

Information and wildlife valuation: Experiments and policy

The authors use experimental surveys to investigate the association between individuals' knowledge of particular wildlife species and their stated willingness to allocate funds to conserve each. The nature of variations in these allocations between species (e.g., their dispersion) as participants' knowledge increases is examined. Factors influencing these changes are suggested. Willingness-to-pay allocations are found not to measure the economic value of species, but are shown to be policy relevant. The results indicate that poorly known species, e.g., in remote areas, may obtain relatively less conservation support than they deserve.

Antarctic tourists: A case study of their evaluation of Antarctic wildlife and environmental issues

Reports the results of surveys of Antarctic cruise ship passengers on the ‘Akademik Ioffe’ who undertook their Antarctic journey in January 2003. The prime purposes of the surveys were to determine the socio-economic profile of these travellers, evaluate the importance of Antarctic wildlife for their travel, their attitude to Antarctic wildlife conservation as well as environmental issues involving Antarctica, both prior to their tourist visit to Antarctica and following it. This paper reports on the socio-economic profile of respondents, their willingness to pay for their Antarctic trip, and their knowledge of Antarctica. The comparative importance of Antarctic wildlife as a factor motivating respondents to undertake their journey is assessed and the evaluation of travellers following their Antarctic visit is considered. The relative importance of different Antarctic wildlife species is taken into account as well as Antarctic attractions other than wildlife. The attitudes of respondents to several environmental issues involving Antarctica, (eg. the commercial use of its natural resources and global environmental change impacting on Antarctica) are canvassed and summarised. In conclusion, the relevance of the survey results for Antarctic conservation are discussed. Particular attention is given to the question of whether Antarctic tourism favours or threatens Antarctic nature conservation.

An initial assessment of policies for saving a rare Australian glider: Experimental results, economics and ecology

Reviews the ecological status of the mahogany glider and describes its distribution, habitat and abundance, life history and threats to it. Three serial surveys of Brisbane residents provide data on the knowledge of respondents about the mahogany glider. The results provide information about the attitudes of respondents to the mahogany glider, to its conservation and relevant public policies and about variations in these factors as the knowledge of participants of the mahogany glider alters. Similarly data is provided and analysed about the willingness to pay of respondents to conserve the mahogany glider. Population viability analysis is applied to estimate the required habitat area for a minimum viable population of the mahogany glider to ensure at least a 95% probability of its survival for 100 years. Places are identified in Queensland where the requisite minimum area of critical habitat can be conserved. Using the survey results as a basis, the likely willingness of groups of Australians to pay for the conservation of the mahogany glider is estimated and consequently their willingness to pay for the minimum required area of its habitat. Methods for estimating the cost of protecting this habitat are outlined. Australia-wide benefits seem to exceed the costs. Establishing a national park containing the minimum viable population of the mahogany glider is an appealing management option. This would also be beneficial in conserving other endangered wildlife species. Therefore, additional economic benefits to those estimated on account of the mahogany glider itself can be obtained.

Comparative public support for conserving reptile species is high: Australian evidence and its implications

This paper investigates factors influencing the public’s support for conservation of tropical reptile species in a focal group drawing on Australian data and an experiment involving a sample of the Australian public. The influences of the likeability of the species, their degree of endangerment, ethical considerations as well as knowledge are examined and found to be important. Likeability is found to be much less important than the existing literature suggests. This is highlighted by comparing the likeability of the focal group of reptiles with that for a group of birds and a group of mammals with differences in willingness to pay for their conservation.

Dependence of public support for survival of wildlife species on their likeability

We surveyed a sample of 204 individuals selected from the public in Brisbane, Australia, to ascertain the extent to which they like or dislike 24 species of wildlife present in tropical Australia. The species belong to three classes: mammals, birds and reptiles. We calculated likeability indices for each of these species. We also asked respondents if they favoured the survival of each of these species and so the percentage of respondents favouring survival of each of these species could be calculated. Thus, using linear regression analysis, the percentage of respondents favouring survival of each of the species was related to their indices of likeability. In addition, the data enables the average likeability of species in the three classes (mammals, birds and reptiles) to be compared with the average support for survival of species in each of these three classes. As a result, we are able to assess how important stated likeability seems to be for preferences for survival of species, and to reconsider the hypothesis in the literature that there is likely to be more public support for the survival of mammals than for birds than for reptiles.

Nurturing communication by health professionals toward patients: A communication accommodation theory approach

This study explores the role of nurturing communication in distinguishing interpersonal and intergroup interactions between health professionals and patients, from the perspective of communication accommodation theory (CAT). Participants (47 men and 87 women) rated videotapes of actual hospital consultations on 12 goal and 16 strategy items derived from CAT. Health professionals in interpersonal interactions were perceived to pay more attention to relationship and emotional needs and to use more nurturant discourse management and emotional expression. These results point the way toward elucidating the perceived optimal balance in accommodative behavior, both group based and interpersonal, in these contexts, and they highlight the importance of nurturant communication to this process.

A survey of contact with offspring and assistance with child care among parents with psychotic disorders

To help improve services for parents with psychotic disorders, patients with such disorders in three treatment agencies in Queensland, Australia, were surveyed about whether they were parents, how much contact they had with their offspring, and who provided assistance with child care. Of the 342 individuals with psychotic disorders mho participated in the study, 124 were parents. Forty-eight parents in the study had children under age 16, and 20 of these parents (42 percent) had their children living with them. Most parents relied on relatives or friends for assistance with child care. Barriers to child care services identified by parents were inability to pay, lack of local services, and fear of losing custody of children.

Optimal reserve management and sovereign debt

Most models currently used to determine optimal foreign reserve holdings take the level of international debt as given. However, given the sovereign`s willingness-to-pay incentive problems, reserve accumulation may reduce sustainable debt levels. In addition, assuming constant debt levels does not allow addressing one of the puzzles behind using reserves as a means to avoid the negative effects of crisis: why do not sovereign countries reduce their sovereign debt instead? To study the joint decision of holding sovereign debt and reserves, we construct a stochastic dynamic equilibrium model calibrated to a sample of emerging markets. We obtain that the reserve accumulation does not play a quantitatively important role in this model. In fact, we find the optimal policy is not to hold reserves at all. This finding is robust to considering interest rate shocks, sudden stops, contingent reserves and reserve dependent output costs. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Cost-Effectiveness of Palliation of Unresectable Esophageal Cancer

Introduction Different modalities of palliation for obstructive symptoms in patients with unresectable esophageal cancer (EC) exist. However, these therapeutic alternatives have significant differences in costs and effectiveness. Methods A Markov model was designed to compare the cost-effectiveness (CE) of self-expandable stent (SES), brachytherapy and laser in the palliation of unresectable EC. Patients were assigned to one of the strategies, and the improvement in swallowing function was compared given the treatment efficacy, probability of survival, and risks of complications associated to each strategy. Probabilities and parameters for distribution were based on a 9-month time frame. Results Under the base-case scenario, laser has the lowest CE ratio, followed by brachytherapy at an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of $4,400.00, and SES is a dominated strategy. In the probabilistic analysis, laser is the strategy with the highest probability of cost-effectiveness for willingness to pay (WTP) values lower than $3,201 and brachytherapy for all WTP yielding a positive net health benefit (NHB) (threshold $4,440). The highest probability of cost-effectiveness for brachytherapy is 96%, and consequently, selection of suboptimal strategies can lead to opportunity losses for the US health system, ranging from US$ 4.32 to US$ 38.09 million dollars over the next 5-20 years. Conclusion Conditional to the WTP and current US Medicare costs, palliation of unresectable esophageal cancers with brachytherapy provides the largest amount of NHB and is the strategy with the highest probability of CE. However, some level of uncertainly remains, and wrong decisions will be made until further knowledge is acquired.

Management of Common Bile Duct Stones in Cirrhotic Patients with Coagulopathy: A Comparison of Supra-Papillary Puncture and Standard Cannulation Technique

Bleeding is not uncommon following endoscopic sphincterotomy. Supra-papillary puncture (SPP) might be safer than standard cannulation (SC) techniques in patients with coagulopathy. The aim of the study was to compare the safety and effectiveness of SPP and SC. This was a prospective case control intervention study. Decompensated cirrhotic patients with coagulopathy and choledocolithiasis underwent SC and SPP methods for biliary access. One hundred five patients (56 [53.3%] men, mean [SD] age 56 [15.8]) underwent ERCP. SC and SPP were performed in 63 and 42 patients, respectively. Biliary access was achieved in 56/63 (89%) and 40/42 (95%) of patients undergoing SC and SPP, respectively (P = 0.13; 95% CI [-0.16; 0.03]). Complications occurred in 10/63 (15.8%) patients undergoing SC and 5/42 (11.9%) SPP (P = 0.28; 95% CI [-0.17, 0.16]). Five (7.9%) and two (3.2%) episodes of post-sphincterotomy bleeding was seen in the SC and SPP groups, respectively (P = 0.36; 95% CI [-0.16, 0.05]). In contrast, three (4.8%) episodes of pancreatitis were seen in the SC and none in the SPP group (P = 0.05; 95% CI [0.001; 0.004]). A cost-effectiveness analysis demonstrated that SPP is an acceptable alternative at an ICER of US$ 5,974.92 per additional successful procedure. SPP is a safe and effective technique for the management of common bile duct stones in decompensated cirrhotic patients. Conditional to the willingness-to-pay and to the local ERCP-related costs, SPP is also a cost-effective alternative to the SC methods. SPP is associated with a lower rate of complications but larger studies to validate these findings are necessary.

Conservation and economic benefits of wildlife-based marine tourism: Sea turtles and whales as case studies

Tourism development can have positive and/or negative impacts on wildlife. However, if tourism is developed in accordance with the basic tenets of wildlife tourism such an activity can be sustainable and can aid the conservation of species. Based on two case studies in Queensland, Australia, this article outlines the various economic and conservation benefits arising from wildlife-based tourism. Some of the benefits are direct, such as tangible economic benefits, others are less tangible, such as increased visitors’ willingness to pay in principle for the conservation of species. Wildlife-based tourism is shown to foster political support for the conservation of species utilized for such tourism by various mechanisms. Non-consumptive uses of wildlife are not only sustainable, but may provide a viable alternative to consumptive uses.

Use and non-use values of wild Asian elephants: A total economic valuation approach

The contingent valuation method is often used for valuing environmental goods possessing use as well as non-use values. This paper investigates the relative importance of these values in relation to the existence of the wild Asian elephant. It does so by analysing results from a contingent valuation survey of a sample of urban residents living in three selected housing schemes in Colombo. We find that the major proportion of the respondents’ willingness to pay (WTP) for conservation of wild elephants is attributable to the non-use values of the elephant. However, differences in the relative importance of these values exist between those who visit national parks and those who do not. Differences in respondents’ WTP for conservation of elephants are found to be largely influenced by attitudinal and behavioural factors rather than socio-economic ones. We conclude that policymakers must recognise and take account of the importance of non-use values of the Asian elephant, if this endangered species is to survive in the long run. Nevertheless, the non-consumptive use value of elephants in Sri Lanka is also found to be substantial.