Landowner preferences for wetlands conservation programs in two Southern Ontario watersheds.

Wetlands in the region of Southern Ontario, Canada have declined substantially from their historic area. Existing regulations and programs have not abated this decline. However, reversing this trend by protecting or restoring wetlands will increase the supply of important ecosystem services. In particular, these actions will contribute to moderating the impacts of extreme weather predicted to result from climate change as well as reducing phosphorous loads in Lake Erie and ensuing eutrophication. Since the majority of land in the region is privately owned, landowners can play an important role. Thus, we assessed landowner preferences for voluntary incentive-based wetlands conservation programs using separate choice experiments mailed to farm and non-farm landowners in the Grand River and Upper Thames River watersheds. Latent class models were separately estimated for the two data sets. Marginal willingness to accept, compensating surplus, and participation rates were estimated from the resulting models to gain insight into the financial compensation required by landowners and their potential participation. Many of the participating landowners appear willing to participate in wetlands conservation at reasonable cost, with more willing groups notably marked by past participation in incentive-based conservation programs. They generally favor wetlands conservation programs that divert smaller areas of land to wetlands conservation, target marginal agricultural land, use treed buffers to protect wetlands, offer technical help, and pay financial incentives. However, landowners appear reluctant to receive public recognition of their wetland conservation actions. Our results are of interest to natural resource managers designing or refining wetlands conservation programs.

Which Factors Contribute to Environmental Behaviour of Landowners in Southwestern Ontario, Canada?

Loss of natural heritage is a problem that is particularly prevalent in areas of high population density. We used a survey to understand the factors that drive environmental behavior of landowners in southwestern Ontario, Canada. The survey, which contained questions about environmental attitude, pro-environmental behavior and demographics, was mailed to 18,090 rural route addresses, and we received 3256 completed surveys (18% response rate). Two types of environmental behavior, namely voluntarily increasing the area of land set aside for conservation, and enrollment in a conservation stewardship program, were significantly correlated with a positive attitude towards conservation. Financial considerations also played a role. We showed that the biggest motivator to enroll in a wetland enhancement program was access to 'more information on how the decline in wetland area affects them personally', while 'public recognition' was the least motivating factor. We suggest that enrollment in voluntary land stewardship programs might be increased by providing information about the effects of ecosystem loss, and by providing financial incentives for participation. In a larger social context, outreach programs by government agencies could focus on improving pro-environmental attitudes, which in turn is likely to result in more pro-environmental behavior of landowners.

Farmers' Preferences for Future Agricultural Land Use Under the Consideration of Climate Change.

Cultural landscapes in Austria are multifunctional through their simultaneous support of productive, habitat, regulatory, social, and economic functions. This study investigates, if changing climatic conditions in Austria will lead to landscape change. Based on the assumption that farmers are the crucial decision makers when it comes to the implementation of agricultural climate change policies, this study analyzes farmers' decision-making under the consideration of potential future climate change scenarios and risk, varying economic conditions, and different policy regimes through a discrete choice experiment. Results show that if a warming climate will offer new opportunities to increase income, either through expansion of cash crop cultivation or new land use options such as short-term rotation forestry, these opportunities will almost always be seized. Even if high environmental premiums were offered to maintain current cultural landscapes, only 43 % of farmers would prefer the existing grassland cultivation. Therefore, the continuity of characteristic Austrian landscape patterns seems unlikely. In conclusion, despite governmental regulations of and incentives for agriculture, climate change will have significant effects on traditional landscapes. Any opportunities for crop intensification will be embraced, which will ultimately impact ecosystem services, tourism opportunities, and biodiversity.

Cost-benefit analysis of riparian protection in an eastern Canadian watershed.

Forested riparian buffers have proved to be an effective management practice that helps maintain ecological goods and services in watersheds. In this study, we assessed the non-market benefits and opportunity costs associated with implementing these buffers in an eastern Canadian watershed using contingent valuation and wood supply modeling methods, respectively. A number of buffer scenarios were considered, including 30 and 60 m buffers on woodlots and on all land (including woodlots, agricultural, and residential lands) in the watershed. Household annual WTP estimates ranged from -$6.80 to $42.85, and total present value benefits ranged from -$11.7 to $121.7 million (CDN 2007), depending on the buffer scenario, affected population, time horizon, and econometric modeling assumptions considered. Opportunity cost estimates range from $1.3 to $10.4 million in present value terms, depending on silvicultural and agriculture land rental rate assumptions. Overall, we found that the net present value of riparian buffers was positive for the majority of scenarios and assumptions. Some exceptions were found under more conservative benefit, and higher unit cost, assumptions. These results provide decision makers with data on stated benefits and opportunity costs of riparian buffers, as well as insight into the importance of modeling assumptions when using this framework of analysis.

Cancer-related health behaviours and health service use among Inuit and other residents of Canada's north.

This article identifies the extent to which demographic, socio-economic and geographic factors account for differences between Inuit and other Northern Canadian residents in health-related behaviours and health service use related to cancer incidence and diagnosis. The study population includes Inuit, Métis, First Nation and non-Aboriginal residents aged 21-65 who live in Nunavut, Northwest Territories, Labrador, Nunavik and Jamésie in northern Quebec, and the northern regions of Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Data are drawn from confidential versions of the 2000-2001 and 2004-2005 Canadian Community Health Surveys and the 2001 Aboriginal People's Survey produced by Statistics Canada. Multivariate Logistic regression analysis is applied to a set of health-related behaviours including cigarette smoking, binge drinking and obesity, and a set of basic health service use measures including consultation with a physician, consultation with a nurse, Pap smear testing and mammography. We found that significantly higher smoking and binge drinking rates and lower rates of female cancer screening among Inuit are found not to be accounted for by differences in observable demographic and socio-economic characteristics, location of residence or distance from a hospital. As such we conclude that health-related behaviours leading to increased cancer risk and to a lower utilization of diagnostic cancer screening appear to be due to unobserved factors specific to Inuit and their unique social-cultural context. Policy interventions to address these problems may need to be targeted specifically to Inuit Canadians and should not be considered in isolation of their broader health, economic and social environment.