TY - JOUR
T1 - Wetland ecosystem service values and shrimp aquaculture relationships in Can Gio, Vietnam
AU - McDonough, S.
AU - Gallardo, W.
AU - Berg, H.
AU - Trai, N. V.
AU - Yen, N. Q.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank the Royal Thai Government and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) for funding the study and fieldwork. Gratitude is also expressed to the Can Gio Park Management Authorities and the Can Gio’s People’s Committee for logistic and personnel assistance.
PY - 2014/11
Y1 - 2014/11
N2 - Wetland valuation methods often apply monetary driven approaches that may undermine intrinsic ecosystem values. Utilizing a stated preference method, the study identified and mapped local stakeholder ecosystem service values between subsistence wetland and shrimp farmer groups in Can Gio, Vietnam. Through focus group choice experiments, ecosystem services correlating to unique price increments and cost/benefit tradeoffs between hypothetical intensive aquaculture developments and mangrove conservation scenarios were investigated. Selection outcomes exhibited strong values for ecosystem services maintained at the hypothetical natural state (core area pre-intervention 45%, post-intervention 55%; buffer zone pre-intervention 65%, post-intervention 73%). Few respondents selected the hypothetical intensive aquaculture development scenario (core area pre-intervention 18%, post-intervention 9%; buffer zone pre-intervention 12%, post-intervention 5%), and instead, most respondents avoided the costs and benefits of intensive aquaculture development in preference for maintaining natural ecosystem services. Group deliberations drew out a higher sense of altruism and responsiveness to intrinsic wetland values that superseded the potential economic gains of aquaculture developments, whereby certain ecosystem services were deemed economically unassociable and irreplaceable for both study groups. The qualitative results expose the difficulties in monetarily measuring ecosystem services, highlighting the need to incorporate approaches that integrate the intrinsic values attached to ecosystem services.
AB - Wetland valuation methods often apply monetary driven approaches that may undermine intrinsic ecosystem values. Utilizing a stated preference method, the study identified and mapped local stakeholder ecosystem service values between subsistence wetland and shrimp farmer groups in Can Gio, Vietnam. Through focus group choice experiments, ecosystem services correlating to unique price increments and cost/benefit tradeoffs between hypothetical intensive aquaculture developments and mangrove conservation scenarios were investigated. Selection outcomes exhibited strong values for ecosystem services maintained at the hypothetical natural state (core area pre-intervention 45%, post-intervention 55%; buffer zone pre-intervention 65%, post-intervention 73%). Few respondents selected the hypothetical intensive aquaculture development scenario (core area pre-intervention 18%, post-intervention 9%; buffer zone pre-intervention 12%, post-intervention 5%), and instead, most respondents avoided the costs and benefits of intensive aquaculture development in preference for maintaining natural ecosystem services. Group deliberations drew out a higher sense of altruism and responsiveness to intrinsic wetland values that superseded the potential economic gains of aquaculture developments, whereby certain ecosystem services were deemed economically unassociable and irreplaceable for both study groups. The qualitative results expose the difficulties in monetarily measuring ecosystem services, highlighting the need to incorporate approaches that integrate the intrinsic values attached to ecosystem services.
KW - Aquaculture
KW - Ecosystem services
KW - Environmental values
KW - Mangroves
KW - Vietnam
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U2 - 10.1016/j.ecolind.2014.06.012
DO - 10.1016/j.ecolind.2014.06.012
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84905570978
SN - 1470-160X
VL - 46
SP - 201
EP - 213
JO - Ecological Indicators
JF - Ecological Indicators
ER -