Contingent Valuation

13. Yes public managers and environmental planners should definitely engage the public in the decision making process even if the public’s knowledge is limited about the science of an environmental issue. Public engagement gives interested parties an opportunity to weigh in and provide an opinion on environmental issues that might affect their community. There are several ways to include the public in the decision making process such as through the media, public hearings, door to door interaction, and mailings. Even though the majority of the public may not be knowledgeable about environmental issues surrounding their community, if the context of the issue is put into a form where the public can understand all parties will be much better off. As is the case with all policy decisions the more the public knows the better chance the policy will be accepted by the public. The consequences of not including the public in the decision making process or at least provided an opportunity to provide comments or express their concerns, may lead to project delays, budgeting problems, and policies will be difficult to pass under public scrutiny.

14. One environmental problem that may be particularly conducive to using contingent valuation is whether to protect rivers in an area that is a critical habitat for species of fish that are listed as threatened or endangered. In order to continue protecting these areas would require several habitat improvements such as fish passageways or bypass releases from dams to imitate natural water flows that are crucial for fish survival. Another environmental problem that may be conducive to using contingent valuation is a policy decision on whether to reduce several thousand acres of park and recreation area to construct a sports stadium for a local sports team in dire need of a new venue who may leave for another city without a new venue. A contingent valuation survey could be used to estimate the economic value for estimating both the use and non-use values.

15. One environmental problem that might not be conducive to using contingent valuation is any project related to nuclear energy which is normally viewed as a negative to the public. Although the public may not be educated on the effects nuclear projects or initiates whether positive or negative, the term “nuclear” will usually produce negative reactions that may skew contingent survey results. Another environmental problem that may not be conducive to using contingent valuation is whether or not to construct a toxic waste dump near a city. This is a classic case of what is referred to as “not in my backyard” development. The residents of the city would not be in favor of this development for several reasons and chances are conducting a contingent valuation would not produce accurate results.