Author(s): Lemos, Ivan Mauro Mattos
Date: 2014
Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.5/8233
Origin: Repositório da UTL
Subject(s): ecosystem conservation; funding; conservation projects; willingness to pay; attitudes and behaviours; zoological parks
Mestrado em Gestão e Conservação dos Recursos Naturais - Instituto Superior de Agronomia / Universidade de Évora
The choice experiments method was explored to build an efficient model for design and select conservation projects in order to attract funding from zoological parks visitors. The model includes visitor’s environmental preferences and was estimated based on attitudes and behaviours towards ecosystem conservation. The model was tested and developed through pilot study in marine ecosystems contest at Lisbon Oceanarium. The study results showed that: a preference surveyed for different conservation projects varies depending on the characteristics of the species to conserve and this variation is reflected in their willingness to pay; so the most likely project to be funding is conservation project which is important for ecological balance and species survival. This results clearly demonstrate that the surveyed have preference for Indirect Use and Non-Use values; WTP is positively and significantly influenced, both in terms of the characteristics of the project and its effect on the utility of money spent on conservation, by conservationist attitude and behaviour, by visit effect and by respondent quality and quantity of information
