Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Shifted Baselines Reduce Willingness To Pay For Conservation, Loren Mcclenachan, Ryunosuke Matsuura, Payal Shah, Sahan T.M. Dissanayake

Economics Faculty Publications and Presentations

A loss of memory of past environmental degradation has resulted in shifted baselines, which may result in conservation and restoration goals that are less ambitious than if stakeholders had a full knowledge of ecosystem potential. However, the link between perception of baseline states and support for conservation planning has not been tested empirically. Here, we investigate how perceptions of change in coral reef ecosystems affect stakeholders' willingness to pay (WTP) for the establishment of protected areas. Coral reefs are experiencing rapid, global change that is observable by the public, and therefore provide an ideal ecosystem to test links between beliefs …