Contingent Valuation as a Guide to Environmental Policy: An Application to the Conservation of Natural Bushland in Brisbane

This report presents an overview of the Contingent Valuation Method and describes a small-scale, exploratory application, using a bidding technique, to determine how much local respondents were willing to pay to preserve, upgrade and maintain an area of natural bushland in the Whites Hill/Pine Mountain Reserve, Camp Hill, Brisbane. Starting point bias was tested for and was found to occur, with a one dollar increase in the starting bid resulting in a $0.80 increase in the final bid. Evidence also suggested the existence of compliance bias. Respondents were unfamiliar with valuing environmental goods and appeared to use 'cues' in the bidding process to formulate their answers, hence the estimated willingness to pay was not considered accurate. The study did however suggest that respondents valued the area of urban bushland and were willing to pay money to preserve, upgrade and maintain the area.