Uncovering the willingness to pay for ecological red lines protection: Evidence from China

Ecological red line policy is an environmental policy that the national government aims to protect important ecosystems by dividing them into different functional red lines. Ecological red lines is the guarantee lines of ecological services and the bottom lines of ecological security. Quantifying the value of ecological red lines is the inherent requirement of the development of ecological red lines policy. This study investigated whether residents in Nanjing were willing to pay for ecological red lines protection by using the theoretical framework of the double-bounded dichotomous choice method. The survey collected a sample of 1,058 respondents, of whom 835 were willing to pay to protect the ecological red lines, and most of those unwilling to pay believed that protection of ecological red lines should be paid by governments or polluters. The calculated mean Willingness to Pay was 300.07 CNY.year(-1), among which the respondents showed the highest willingness to pay for nature reserve areas and water resources reserve areas and the lowest willingness to pay for cultural landscape areas. The final estimated non-use value of ecological red lines in Nanjing was 2550 million CNY. By analyzing the results of the logistic regression model, education level and family annual income have a significant positive effect on Willingness to Pay, while age, the influence of ecological red lines on themselves, and the initial bid value are negatively significant. The evaluation results of this study have certain value mainly in the framework of sustainable development of ecological red lines, to improve residents' awareness and participation in the protection of ecological red lines, and to provide scientific support for the management plan and policies to improve the environmental quality of ecological red lines.