Economic benefits and ecological costs from users in marine protected areas: linking contingent valuation and emergy analysis.

The evaluation of ecosystem services provided by the environment is usually realized basing on principles linked with the economic theory and then on the assumptions that 1) individuals have preferences for different market and non-market goods, 2) these goods are substitutable the one to each other. Methods for measuring these values fall into two categories: revealed preference and stated preference. Revealed preference measurements are based on observations of users’ behavior, while stated preference ones are based on responses to hypothetical questions. The main method among stated preferences ones is the contingent valuation, that directly asks individuals about the values they would place or place on an environmental good/service. Users’ preferences are then evaluated, for example, investigating the willingness to pay (the maximum amount a person would be willing to pay for an increment of a good) for a good via a survey or questionnaire. The methodology has been applied to a couple of cases located in the north western part of Italy: Portofino and Cinque Terre MPA. In this case people were initially asked if they were aware about the existence of Marine Protected Area, later they were asked if, given that marine protected areas must protect coastal and marine environments, protect cultural, economic and environmental assets (especially with regard to flora and fauna), they judged the establishment of these areas as a priority, important, not very important, irrelevant. Finally they were asked how much would they be willing to pay to protect and save the area (€ per year). The amount of money people declared to be available to pay can be compared with costs imposed by users on the environment to perform their activities. These costs are evaluated by the assessment of users’ consumptions, estimated through information collected contextually to contingent valuation questionnaire and translated in emergy terms. The calculated emergy amount can be translated in money terms through the adoption of emergy to money ratio being then comparable with results from contingent valuation. In such a way it can be understood how much users value the natural services from MPA as well as what they really require to the environment to enjoy it.