How much do people in Scotland value characteristics of marine and coastal areas

Acknowledgements

Author: Edward Noble

The author would like to thank the following individuals and organisations for valued advice and discussions through the project:

University of East Anglia: Dr Gaetano Grilli, Dr Silvia Ferrini

Project Steering Group: Dr Chris Leakey (NatureScot), Gordon Forbes (SG - Marine Directorate), Lucian Fernandez Slade (NatureScot), Mathew Leslie (SG – Marine Directorate), Dr Philip James (University of New South Wales), Dr Philip Boulcott (SG – Marine Directorate),

Marine Analytical Unit: Amy McQueen, Peter van der Meulen

Statement from Centre for Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment (CSERGE) at the University of East Anglia:

“The Centre for Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment (CSERGE) at the University of East Anglia provided support and capacity building in designing and administering the Choice Experiment (CE) study in this project which is aimed at eliciting the value of the Scottish marine environment.

The CE has been developed following the best practices in environmental valuation and stated preferences, therefore we are confident that results can be robustly used to inform Scottish policies on marine management, including impact assessments and cost-benefit analyses. A balanced trade-off between the detailed, science-informed definition of attributes and levels (e.g., biodiversity changes) and the need to simplify complex issues to facilitate respondent’s understanding was required. This resulted in an inevitable generalisation of some aspects of the CE. Nonetheless, the flexibility attained reflects the main characteristics of possible marine management policies (e.g., restrictions). Therefore, the use of results should focus on matching CE outcomes (in particular willingness-to-pay values) with characteristics of potential policy implementation scenarios and keep in mind the resulting uncertainty.”