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Research article2007Peer reviewedOpen access

Willingness to pay (WTP) for wolverine Gulo gulo conservation

Ericsson G, Kindberg J, Bostedt G

Abstract

Knowledge about people's willingness to pay (WTP) for conservation efforts is becoming increasingly important for natural resource management. We used a mail survey with four contacts to 11,418 people, aged 16-65, to investigate how much and why Swedes were willing to pay for wolverine Gulo gulo conservation. With the restricted distribution of European wolverines, Sweden has a key role in their management. We found that Swedes were least likely to support wolverine conservation efforts compared to wolves Canis lupus, lynx Lynx lynx and brown bears Ursus arctos. The amount varied between 965 and 1,233 SEK per person. Of the national representative control group, 47% expressed willingness to pay an average of 1,253 SEK per person. We found that in densely populated urban municipalities with a high proportion of university educated, high female-to-male ratio, positive attitude to the European monetary union (EMU), and a high income, people were more positive towards paying for wolverine conservation. The presence of wolves, but not the presence of any of the other large carnivores, was negatively related to peoples' WTP for wolverine conservation. This indicates that the presence and related experience of wolves might be the principal driver of people's perception of all large carnivores, including wolverines

Published in

Wildlife Biology
2007, Volume: 13, pages: 2-12
Publisher: WILDLIFE BIOLOGY