Developing a benefit transfer database for environmental values in Queensland

Policy makers are often interested in transferring estimates of environmental values made in one situation to related circumstances. The benefit transfer process is typically reliant on the availability of a number of source studies which have appropriate levels of reliability and relevance to the issue of interest. However, the limited number of non-market valuation studies to draw on for source values currently limits the benefit transfer process. In this paper, an alternative approach to benefit transfer is outlined where a series of valuation studies were specifically performed to build a reference data base of values for benefit transfer purposes. The choice modelling technique was used to estimate community values for protecting soil, water and vegetation stocks in Queensland, Australia, where both state and regional populations were surveyed to generate value estimates in a variety of contexts. The results provide a database where government and natural resourcemanagement agencies can access generic estimates of environmental values.