Willingness to pay for urban ecosystem services as input for statistics: a case of Estonia

Abstract

Finding a monetary equivalent for non-market ecosystem services is precondition to develop a worldwide standard for statistics on ecosystem services. The objectiv of this study is to find out the monetary equivalent of the value of Estonian urban ecosystem services and to determine the dependence of people's willingness to pay on their sociometric indicators.. Using the contingent valuation method, the willingness to pay (WTP) of the Estonian adult population for the maintenance and management of Estonian urban ecosystems has been identified. The total annual WTP is about 17 million euros. Using regression analysis, it was determined that the amount of WTP is positively related to education level, income and gender (women pay more), but not related to age of respondents. In order to divide the total WTP among all the services of all the ecosystems studied, the respondents were asked to rank the urban ecosystems and the services they provide according to their subjective preference. The highest rank among ecosystems received large parks and among ecosystem services urban air purification. According to the results obtained, a matrix was compiled in which all services of the studied all ecosystems are assigned a monetary equivalent, which can be used as an input in the statistics on ecosystem services.