Assessing non-use values for environmental protection of an estuary in a Great Barrier Reef catchment

Estuaries play an important role as a buffer zone between the land-based activities and the inshore marine environment. However, little is known about community values for the environmental services estuaries provide. Choice Modelling, a non-market economic valuation technique, was applied to estimate the non-use values associated with protecting the environmental health of the Fitzroy estuary in the Great Barrier Reef catchment area. Non-use values are held by people who do not directly use the estuary themselves, but may still value it for its natural capital and the ecosystem services it provides. A survey sample was selected from a remote population (Brisbane, 700 km from the estuary), where it was unlikely that many respondents had used the estuary and so the values elicited reflected a non-use component of value. Results indicated that Brisbane households were willing to pay $3.21 per year for a one per cent improvement in the environmental health of the Fitzroy estuary. Results also revealed that losses in environmental health were valued differently to gains.