Choice modeling and its application to managing the Ejina Region, China

Decision-makers face a range of choices on how to manage ecosystems. Appropriate decisions should be based on weighing up the benefits and costs of alternative ecosystem management strategies, including monetary and non-monetary benefits and costs. This paper reports an application of the choice modeling (CM) method in rural China in obtaining monetary estimates of the benefits arising from changing natural resource management strategies in the Ejina Region. The application of CM is described including the goals of the study, questionnaire design and survey management. Model results were derived from 1000 in-person interviews. Significant non-monetary values were estimated for ecosystem management changes in the Ejina Region and these are useful in choosing appropriate alternative management strategies. The results indicate that improving water quality and increasing abundances of animal species were the attributes given greatest emphasis by respondents.