Conference 2003
Greening the City:
Bringing Biodiversity Back
into the Urban Environment
Abstract:
Green
for Green - the Perceived Value of a Quantitative Change in the
Urban Tree Estate of New Zealand
Eva-Terezia Vesely (School of Geography & Environmental Science, Auckland)
The urban tree estate
impacts on the quality of urban life through the provision of a
series of benefits that are aesthetic, ecological, social and economic
in nature. However, most of these benefits do not have a market
price and exact information on the type of values people attach
to urban trees is scarce (Tyrväinen, 2001). In order to enhance
a more comprehensive inclusion of human values into the planning
and management of the urban tree estates, as well as to provide
an input into the cost-benefit analysis of related policies and
projects, the perceived value of a quantitative change in the urban
tree estate of 15 New Zealand cities was measured by contingent
valuation.
The results reveal an
estimated NZ$116 million per year aggregated willingness to pay
during a 3 year time period for the avoidance of a 20% reduction.
The need to measure value using a series of metrics was reinforced
by the finding that 58% of those who refused to pay the contingent
bid said yes to contributing in the form of volunteer work. Also
of interest for managers and policy makers is that 48% of the population
find the supply and demand side of the urban tree estate in disequilibrium,
indicating the imbalance in the favour of demand (95%) or supply
(5%). The perceptions of the importance of a series of benefits
and negative effects are different and the motivations behind people's
interest in taking care of trees also vary.
If the support of the
community for tree programmes is the goal, an understanding of the
underlying motivations together with reinforcement of the benefits
and management of the negative effects will be needed. If formulation
of efficient land-use policies is intended, the comparison of benefits
with the provision and management costs will be required. The findings
of this study contribute to both.
Reference: Tyrväinen,
L. 2001. Economic Valuation of Urban Forest Benefits in Finland.
Journal of Environmental Management 62: 75–92.
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