Public perspective on constructing sea forests as a public good: A contingent valuation experiment in South Korea

Kyung Ran Choi, Ju Hee Kim, Seung Hoon Yoo

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12 Scopus citations

Abstract

The South Korean government plans to construct sea forests of 35,640ha until 2030 to reduce the appearance of urchin barren causing the desertification of the sea. The construction will help restore the ecological integrity of the damaged marine ecosystem and require the injection of taxes paid by the public. This study, therefore, examines the public perspective on the construction using an economic approach of contingent valuation (CV). The data on the public willingness to pay (WTP) for the construction were collected from a CV survey of 1000 households across the country, adopting a dichotomous-choice question format, during July 2019. As not a few interviewees responded zero WTP for various reasons, a spike model that could reflect zero WTP observations was utilized. The household WTP for the construction was estimated, with statistical significance, to be KRW 3304 (USD 2.81) per year. If this value is expanded to all households in South Korea, it is worth KRW 66.46 billion (USD 56.56 million). The present value of the benefits ensuing from the construction, taking into account the payment period of 10 years and the social discount rate of 4.5%, is KRW 633.31 billion (USD 538.99 million), which exceeds the present value of the involved costs (KRW 391.67 billion or USD 333.34 million). The net present value and benefit–cost ratio of the construction were computed to be KRW 241.64 billion (USD 205.65 million) and 1.62, respectively, and thus the construction of sea forests is socially beneficial to the public.

Original languageEnglish
Article number104146
JournalMarine Policy
Volume120
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 2020

Keywords

  • Contingent valuation
  • Ecological integrity
  • Sea forests
  • Urchin barren
  • Willingness to pay

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