How do Beijing Residents Value Environmental Improvements in Remote Parts of China
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ADVANCES IN CLIMATE CHANGE RESEARCH 4(3): 190-200, 2013
www.climatechange.cn
DOI: 10.3724/SP.J.1248.2013.190
ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE
How do Beijing Residents Value Environmental
Improvements in Remote Parts of China
Michael AHLHEIM1 , Oliver FRÖR2 , LUO Jing3 , Sonna PELZ1 , JIANG Tong4
1
University of Hohenheim, Institute of Economics, Stuttgart 70593, Germany
2
University of Koblenz-Landau, Institute of Ecological Science, Landau 76829, Germany
3
Research Center for China’s Borderland History and Geography, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences,
Beijing 100732, China
4
National Climate Center, China Meteorological Administration, Beijing 100081, China
Abstract
The benefits of climate adaptation policy are sometimes underestimated because its nonuse values perceived by
people indirectly affected are usually ignored. Using data from a representative sample of Beijing’s urban population,
it is shown that people living at a distance perceive nonuse values of climate change adaptation measures aimed at
improving the environmental conditions in the Tarim River Basin in Northwest China. Using the contingent valuation
method the monetized benefit of a particular set of climate adaptation measures experienced by a Beijing household
is approximated. It is concluded that not only the preferences of local people, but also of people living in other parts
of China should be considered when deciding if a climate adaptation policy is worthwhile implementing from a social
welfare point of view.
Keywords: climate policy; Tarim River Basin; cost-benefit analysis; nonuse values; contingent valuation method
Citation: Ahlheim, M., O. Frör, J. Luo, et al., 2013: How do Beijing residents value environmental improvements in
remote parts of China? Adv. Clim. Change Res., 4(3), doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1248.2013.190.
1 Introduction negative consequences of climate change for a specific
region. The benefits created by adaptation policy are
Climate policy measures can be roughly subdi- only of local importance while mitigation policy yields
vided into mitigation measures and adaptation mea- global benefits.
sures. Mitigation policy aims at a reduction of green- Mitigation and adaptation measures are usually
house gas emissions with the overall goal of slowing financed out of public funds. Before implementing a
down climate change and global warming. Since green- particular project or policy, decision makers should
house gases like CO2 , CH4 , etc., are global pollutants make sure that this makes sense from a social point
which have the same effect on world climate irrespec- of view, i.e., that the social benefits accruing from
tive of where they are emitted, mitigation policy cre- such a project outweigh its costs. Comprehensive envi-
ates benefits for people all over the world. Adaptation ronmental cost-benefit analysis requires that all bene-
policy on the other hand does not seek to influence fits accruing from a project are included [Mitchell and
the global climate but, instead, is meant to reduce the Carson, 1989]. The fact that more people directly ben-
Received: 12 March 2013
Corresponding author: JIANG Tong, jiang.t@niglas.ac.cn
1
Michael AHLHEIM et al. / How do Beijing Residents Value Environmental Improvements in Remote Parts . . . 191
efit from mitigation policy as compared to adaptation values depends on the cultural background of the peo-
policy has consequences for the welfare economic ap- ple affected by these measures and of the society they
praisal of the former as compared to the latter. In live in. Especially in an emerging country like China
practice, social benefits generated by a climate policy many people might still underestimate the importance
are calculated as the sum of changes in the utility of all of climate adaptation measures in comparison with
households affected by this policy. As a consequence, economic policy measures triggering economic growth
social benefits depend both on the increase of well- of the country, especially if the adaptation measures
being of individual households and on the number of are conducted in faraway regions of the country [Har-
households considered. Consequently, since the well- ris, 2006].
being of many more people worldwide is affected by In this study we test empirically the hypothesis
mitigation measures than by adaptation measures, the that also in a growth-oriented economy like China non-
former will always appear more attractive in a cost- materialistic values like the nonuse values of climate
benefit analysis than the latter, at least from a global policy are perceived and respected by the population.
perspective [Hanley et al., 1993]. Since environmental awareness usually increases with
There is a growing interest in assessing public education level [Dunlap et al., 2000], we suppose that
views on climate change and of adaptation policies. nonuse values of climate policy are more likely to be
Quantitative surveys on this topic have been carried perceived by the people living in big cities as com-
out in many countries [Ebi and Semenza, 2008; Lowe pared to people living in remote areas. Therefore,
et al., 2006; Luo et al., 2009; Rebetez, 1996; Semenza we conduct a survey in Beijing where we ask people
et al., 2008]. Deng et al. [2011; 2012], for instance, as- to assess a climate change adaptation project to be
sessed public perceptions of climate change and adap- implemented in a faraway region, in this case in the
tation measures in the Urumqi River Basin and the Tarim River Basin in Xinjiang autonomous region. Of
Aksu River Basin in Northwest China. The latter two course, the population of Beijing is not representa-
studies focus on the preferences of the local population tive for the Chinese population, but in the context
towards different adaptation measures. However, until of this study it serves as a suitable example for the
now no attention has been paid to the quantification people potentially benefiting from the nonuse value of
of benefits accruing from these measures also in other climate adaptation policy in the Tarim River Basin.
parts of China or even for China as a whole. This approach can then be extended to other regions
In this paper we want to show that adaption of China.
policy measures are often undervalued in cost-benefit The rest of the paper is organized as follows: the
analysis because only their so-called use values are next section provides information concerning the im-
considered, while the nonuse values they create are pact of climate change on the Tarim area; section 3
neglected. If it can be shown that some adaptation introduces the theoretical concept of nonuse values,
policy measures in the context of climate policy create the contingent valuation method and the survey; in
also nonuse values in addition to the use values, this section 4, survey results are presented and analyzed,
might lead to a new assessment of such measures and followed by some concluding remarks.
it might increase their chances of being approved in
the political decision process [Carson and Hanemann, 2 Research areas
2005]. It is obvious that the systematic undervalua-
tion of adaptation policy measures resulting from the The Tarim River, located in an arid desert region
neglect of nonuse values they create might have the in Northwest China, is the longest river in Central
consequence that they are declined because they do Asia. Figure 1 shows the location of the Tarim River
not pass the cost-benefit test, though they create high and its basin. The natural environment as well as most
nonuse values which are not considered in this test economic activities and settlements in the Tarim River
[Ahlheim, 2002]. Of course, the existence of nonuse Basin directly depend on water from the Tarim River192 ADVANCES IN CLIMATE CHANGE RESEARCH
[Thevs, 2011]. Since the 1950s agricultural activity, and loss of biodiversity, negatively affecting the living
especially the extremely water intensive production of conditions of local people and the development of the
cotton, has expanded and the population in the oasis entire region. Due to the predicted impacts of climate
cities along the Tarim River has grown considerably. change, i.e., increasing temperatures, changes in sea-
As a consequence, the Tarim River loses water as it sonal precipitation and glacier melting, the problem
flows downstream and the lowest parts of the river’s of water shortage will become more and more serious
downstream reaches are completely desiccated due to and the effects on the entire region will be disastrous
the extensive exploitation of river water in the upper [Chen et al., 2013]. Worst-case scenarios predict the
reaches. The dramatic loss of water resources in the complete desiccation of the Tarim River leading to a
lower reaches has led to a severe deterioration of the merging of the Taklamakan Desert into the southern
highly vulnerable riparian ecosystems, desertification part of the Gobi Desert.
Figure 1 The Tarim River Basin in Northwest China and locations of meteorological and hydrological stations
(source: China Meteorological Administration)
The environmental problems of the Tarim River 2008]. Taking into account the predicted impacts of
Basin have been extensively studied by Chinese and climate change on the Tarim area, an integrated river
foreign researchers and since the turn of the cen- basin management, in particular an improved water
tury the Chinese Government has heavily invested management and, in conjunction, a more sustainable
in projects aimed at improving the situation. Fur- land management, is urgently needed [Chen et al.,
thermore, two World Bank projects (1991–1997 & 2013]. It is clear that the scientific development, the
1998–2005) led to improvements of the water distri- implementation and the maintenance of such a climate
bution infrastructure and the establishment of mecha- adaptation policy are very costly and that it will re-
nisms for sustainable water management in the region quire further investments by the Chinese Government.
[WB, 2007]. However, water shortage remains a prob- An important question is whether these high costs can
lem and the environmental deterioration in the lower be justified from a social point of view. Environmental
reaches of the Tarim River is progressing [Tao et al., cost-benefit analysis can be used by decision makers inMichael AHLHEIM et al. / How do Beijing Residents Value Environmental Improvements in Remote Parts . . . 193
order to decide whether this climate adaptation policy decide on the relevant population when assessing so-
should be implemented or not. cial benefits [Hanley et al., 2003]. In many cases, the
impacts of global climate change are most serious in
3 Data and method scarcely populated regions. The high costs of pub-
lic climate adaptation projects could not be justified
3.1 The concept of nonuse values
only by the benefits accruing to people directly af-
Krutilla [1967] pointed out that people can gain fected, because the aggregated benefits would be very
utility from a natural resource without using it. With low due to the small number of households affected.
this observation he introduced the above mentioned However, due to its nonuse values, not only people on
concept of the nonuse values of public goods into the site but also those living far away might obtain ben-
discussion on the appraisal of public projects. Fol- efits from projects leading to improved environmental
lowing the total value approach, both use values and conditions. Future generations are often the main ben-
nonuse values need to be assessed for a comprehensive eficiaries of climate policy, so that the bequest value
valuation of public goods or projects. is likely to be quite high. As explained above, consid-
The nonuse value of a natural resource can be dis- ering only the benefits enjoyed by local people would
aggregated into its existence value (preservation of lead to a dramatic underestimation of the social value
the resource for its own sake, i.e., in absence of any of a public project and thus to misleading results of
intention to ever use it), its option value (arising the environmental cost-benefit analysis.
from preserving the option of using the natural re- In developing and emerging countries household
source in the future), its altruistic value (accruing budgets are often tight, traveling is luxury and for
from the pleasure of knowing that others will enjoy the many households economic prosperity matters more
natural resource), and its bequest value (generated than environmental protection. Thus, the question
by the enjoyment of knowing that future generations arises whether the above argument also holds for popu-
can benefit from the natural resource). In contrast lation considered in present study, i.e., whether people
to the use values that can only be enjoyed by the di- in China perceive so-called nonuse values at all.
rect users of an environmental resource, e.g., people
living on site, nonuse values can also be experienced 3.2 The Contingent Valuation Method
at a distance (Fig. 2). This latter feature of nonuse
values has important consequences for environmental In an environmental economic assessment costs
cost-benefit analysis. and benefits, expressed in monetary terms, need to be
compared to each other. Whereas the economic cost
of projects in the environmental sector can be calcu-
lated based on market prices, the assessment of the
benefits accruing to society as a whole is more chal-
lenging. Changes in social welfare due to a change
in environmental quality are not reflected by market
prices and have to be estimated using environmental
valuation methods.
The Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) is
widely accepted and the most popular technique for
the evaluation of public projects in environmental sec-
Figure 2 The total value of an environmental resource
tor, including climate adaptation policy [Carson and
Since social benefits depend both on the increase Hanemann, 2005]. The CVM is an interview-based
of wellbeing of individual households and on the num- method where a representative sample of households
ber of households considered, a critical question is to affected by an environmental project is asked to state194 ADVANCES IN CLIMATE CHANGE RESEARCH
their willingness to pay (WTP) for the realization of nese and German researchers based on interviews with
that project. It is assumed that a household’s WTP experts in the field of water and land management
reflects the utility it gets from the implied environ- in Xinjiang autonomous region and on in-depth inter-
mental improvement in monetary terms. The sum of views with Beijing citizens. Prior to the main survey,
the individual WTPs of all households affected equals different versions of the questionnaire were thoroughly
the overall social value of the environmental improve- pretested (100 pretest interviews in total). In addi-
ment. In practice, the overall social value is calculated tion, several citizen expert group (CEG) workshops
by multiplying the average WTP of a representative were held. Citizen experts are normal people, i.e.,
household sample by the number of all households af- no scientific experts, representing their fellow citizens.
fected. In contrast to indirect valuation methods, such CEGs are very useful in adapting CVM surveys to the
as the travel cost method or the hedonic price method, specific socio-cultural context of the survey popula-
CVM allows for a comprehensive measurement of both tion. Well-designed CEG workshops can help to min-
use values and nonuse values [Ahlheim and Frör, 2003]. imize biases in CVM studies [Ahlheim et al., 2010].
Because of its suitability for the estimation of The questionnaire was steadily adapted based on in-
the total economic value of public projects in envi- formation and suggestions obtained from CEGs.
ronmental sector, the CVM is a powerful assessment The final questionnaire was structured in five
instrument in the context of climate adaptation pol- parts, containing 1) demographic questions, 2) warm-
icy. In addition to measuring social benefits in mon- up questions concerning prior knowledge of the Tarim
etary terms, factors determining a household’s WTP River Basin, 3) a third part containing a detailed de-
(household size, income, etc.) as well as environmen- scription of the environmental and social problems re-
tal attitudes of the respondents are investigated in a sulting from water shortage, the project and the pay-
CVM study. As highlighted by Deng et al. [2012] un- ment scenario, and the WTP elicitation question, 4)
derstanding the public view on climate adaptation and several follow-up questions on environmental issues,
mitigation measures is essential in the overall context and 5) questions on household data. In order to in-
of climate policy. crease the response rate, respondents were offered a
monetary compensation of 30 RMB (about 3.80= C) for
3.3 Sample population, questionnaire design their efforts.
and sampling method Since conventional household interviews were not
possible for reasons of safety, 18 students of Minzu
The water and land management project consid- University of China conducted intercept face-to-face
ered in this study is thought to increase the wellbe- interviews in the surroundings of six subway stations
ing of people living on site (e.g., in the Tarim River in July 2012. The subway stations Dongzhimen, Xizhi-
Basin) and also of people living far away due to its men, Liujiayao, Guomao, Renmin University, and
nonuse values. This paper focuses on the nonuse val- Weigongcun were chosen in order to access different
ues experienced by households indirectly affected by groups of the population in different districts of the
the project and therefore only investigates the view of city. Interviews were not conducted directly at the
people living far away from the project area. subway station, but at suitable places such as cafes,
The city of Beijing was chosen as a study site be- restaurants, public parks, etc. Quota for gender, age
cause its residents may be viewed as a good example and education based on official data from the Beijing
of a population indirectly affected by the water and Municipal Bureau of Statistics [BMBOS, 2012] were
land management project in the Tarim area. Because employed in order to ensure representativeness of the
of the relatively small sample size (303), only adults sample. Out of 305 questionnaires, only 2 had to be
currently living in one of the six urban districts of Bei- discarded, leading to 303 valid interviews.
jing were sampled. The third column in Table 1 shows the socio-
The questionnaire was jointly designed by Chi- demographic characteristics of the survey sample. ForMichael AHLHEIM et al. / How do Beijing Residents Value Environmental Improvements in Remote Parts . . . 195
Table 1 Socio-demographic characteristics of survey sample
Variable Sample 95% confidence Beijing Statistical
(303) interval Yearbook 2011a
Gender Male 53.0% [47%, 59%] 52.0%
Female 47.0% [41%, 53%] 48.0%
Age 18–29 30.3% [25%, 36%] 29.7%
30–39 21.4% [17%, 26%] 21.0%
40–60 34.2% [30%, 41%] 34.6%
> 60 14.1% [9%, 17%] 14.6%
Education Without or elementary education 10.9% [7%, 14%] 12.3%
Middle education 54.9% [49%, 60%] 54.9%
Higher education 34.2% [29%, 40%] 32.8%
Ethnicity Han 94.7% [92%, 97%] 95.9%
Minorities 5.3% [3%, 8%] 4.1%
Disposable annual household 83,621 [73714, 93528] 81,404 b
income (RMB)
District of residence Dongcheng 11.2% [7%, 14%] 7.8%
Xicheng 9.9% [7%, 13%] 10.6%
Chaoyang 24.3%∗ [20%, 30%] 30.3%
Fengtai 19.4% [15%, 24%] 18.0%
Shijingshan 1.6%∗ [0.2%, 3%] 5.3%
Haidian 33.6% [28%, 35%] 28.0%
a BMBOS [2012]
b Average annual disposable income per capita multiplied by the average family size
∗ Sample characteristics that are statistically different from the official data
comparison, official statistical data is provided in the ment. It can be inferred, that people living in Beijing
fifth column. Since the data of the sample is very sim- are very concerned about environmental problems in
ilar to the official data, it can be concluded that the general. According to the majority of respondents, en-
sample is representative. vironmental protection should be given priority even
over economic growth and over fighting poverty.
4 Results During the interviews, respondents were provided
with a detailed description of the causes and conse-
4.1 The attitude of Beijing citizens towards quences of environmental problems occurring in the
environmental deterioration in the Tarim Tarim River Basin. Afterwards they were asked how
River Basin serious they found these problems. All seven problems
listed were seen as very serious or extremely serious
The attitude of Beijing citizens towards environ- by the majority of respondents. Desertification of the
mental problems in general and the environmental landscape, the living conditions of future generations
problems in the Tarim River Basin in particular was and extinction of typical plants and animal species are
investigated in this survey. A general awareness of considered the three most urgent problems (Fig. 4).
the need of protecting the environment can be seen Note that 97% of people have never been to the Tarim
as a precondition for the valuation of an environmen- River Basin and only 6% have relatives living in this
tal improvement occurring at distance and generating area. In other words, the vast majority is not directly
mainly nonuse value for the respondents in the sample. concerned by these issues. Therefore, high concern for
Interviewees were therefore asked to judge the impor- the natural conditions as well as for future generations
tance of different tasks of the Chinese Government. As can be seen as an indicator that Beijing citizens expe-
can be seen from Figure 3 environmental protection is rience nonuse values when thinking of environmental
viewed as the second most important task of govern- improvements in the Tarim area.196 ADVANCES IN CLIMATE CHANGE RESEARCH
Figure 3 Public perceptions on the most important tasks of government (percentage of respondents who answered
agree or strongly agree to the survey question Considering several fields of government activities, how
important do you find the following tasks of government?)
Figure 4 Public perceptions of environmental problems in the Tarim River Basin (percentage of respondents who
answered agree or strongly agree to the survey question In your opinion, how serious do you find the
following problems occurring in the Tarim River Basin?)
4.2 Beijing citizens’ attitude towards a more out by the interviewers. It was highlighted how a
sustainable water and land use manage- more sustainable water and land management project
ment in the Tarim area would lead to improved environmental conditions in
the Tarim River Basin, especially under the predicted
After the description of water shortage prob- impacts of global climate change on the region. Some
lem and its impacts the project scenario was read of the adaptation measures of this project were expla-Michael AHLHEIM et al. / How do Beijing Residents Value Environmental Improvements in Remote Parts . . . 197
ined in more detail. Next, respondents were asked to tion measure in this same study.
state their opinion concerning the importance of these Finally, respondents were asked whether they per-
measures (Fig. 5). sonally would be willing to make a financial contri-
Note that judging rather technical measures bution in order to get sustainable water and land
aimed at improving environmental conditions in an management program in the Tarim area implemented.
area located far away is not an easy task for survey They were told that the implementation of the pro-
respondents. The results reported in Figure 5 should gram depended on the WTP of every household in
not be interpreted as a recommendation for decision China. Only if the total contribution of all Chinese
makers concerning the implementation of measures. households covered the costs, the project could be im-
However, some conclusions concerning the preferences plemented. They were asked to select the maximum
of the population living far away from the Tarim River monthly amount that their household would be willing
Basin can nevertheless be drawn. Beijing citizens to contribute over the next 10 years from a payment
stated a preference for the two short-term measures, card, i.e., from a list of ascending payment intervals.
namely afforestation and improvement of the water Figure 6 shows the distribution of WTP statements.
distribution infrastructure. Measures that are likely Twenty-three percent of the respondents stated a zero
to take longer before being effective (education cam- WTP.
paigns, enhancing the beauty of landscape) are less The majority of households with a non-zero WTP
popular among the respondents. The relatively low wants to pay 10 RMB per month or less. The average
importance ascribed to water-saving plantation and WTP, calculated based on the midpoints of the pay-
the improvement of irrigation techniques is at odds ment card intervals, is 16.50 RMB. Considering the
with the results of Deng et al. [2011], a study in the purchasing power of Beijing households and the time
Urumqi River Basin, where a very similar adaptation span of this monthly payment (10 years), this amount
measure was ranked as most important by local resi- can be interpreted as a considerable contribution to an
dents. However, in accordance with the results of the environmental project generating exclusively nonuse
Beijing survey, improvements of water distribution in- values to a population living far away from the Tarim
frastructure were the second most-preferred adapta- area.
Figure 5 Public opinion on selected policy measures of a more sustainable water and land management (percentage
of respondents who answered important or very important to the survey question How important do you find
the different measures to improve environmental conditions in the Tarim River Basin?)198 ADVANCES IN CLIMATE CHANGE RESEARCH
Figure 6 Distribution of WTP
4.3 Nonuse value of a more sustainable water well as the considerable number of respondents willing
and land use management in the Tarim to make a donation to the Tarim area indicate that
area Beijing residents’ stated WTP for the climate adapta-
tion measures in the Tarim area encompasses altruistic
Since a more sustainable water and land manage- motives.
ment in the Tarim area does not directly affect the cit- During test interviews and CEG meetings it be-
izens of Beijing, the mean WTP of 16.50 RMB can be came clear that the Tarim area is not a popular tourist
interpreted as the monetary equivalent of the nonuse destination for Beijing citizens. Accordingly, the op-
values experienced by the survey respondents. tion value of improved environmental conditions in the
Survey results indicate that the majority of re- Tarim area is likely to be quite low. The survey re-
spondents attribute a high importance to the improve- sults confirm what was found during in-depth inter-
ment of the living conditions of future generations, views and CEG meetings: only 4% of the respondents
the prevention of desertification and the protection of had ever been to the Tarim area; among these respon-
plants and animals (Fig. 4). Thus, WTP seems to dents only four stated touristic motives as reasons for
reflect both existence and bequest values. In addition, their stay. Thus, the WTP of Beijing citizens mainly
the existence of altruistic preferences was tested using reflects the existence value and bequest value of im-
several follow-up questions subsequent to the elicita- proved environmental conditions in the Tarim area as
tion question. For instance, 73% of the respondents well as altruistic preferences.
that had stated a non-zero WTP agreed or strongly
agreed with the statement I feel that we should do 5 Discussion and conclusions
something to help the people in the Tarim area
and I am glad that I now have the opportunity The existence of nonuse values of environmental
to do that and 69% said I want to contribute to improvements increases the social value of environ-
the water management program because local mental projects beyond their mere use values. The
people will live an easier and happier life if it fact that nonuse values might be experienced even by
will be realized. people living far away from the project area is espe-
At the end of the interview, respondents were cially important for the assessment of public projects
asked whether they wanted to keep the 30 RMB they in sparsely populated regions where use values are
were offered as a compensation for participating in the rather small. For a comprehensive assessment of the
interview, or if they wanted to donate the money to overall value of such projects also people living in re-
people living in the Tarim area. Fifty-nine percent of gions far away from the project site must be surveyed
the respondents donated their gifts. High agreement in order to assess the nonuse values they might obtain
to the follow-up questions on altruistic preferences as from the environmental project in question.Michael AHLHEIM et al. / How do Beijing Residents Value Environmental Improvements in Remote Parts . . . 199
In this study it was found that a more sustainable finding makes the existence of nonuse values of climate
water and land management leading to an improve- change adaptation measures in the Tarim River Basin
ment of the environmental situation in the Tarim River plausible and lets our WTP results appear realistic.
Basin under the impression of future climate change is Summing up, the WTP of Beijing citizens for an
also welcomed by people living in Beijing. Their will- environmental improvement without any direct effect
ingness to contribute financially to an improvement on their wellbeing indicates that people in emerging
of the natural environment and living conditions in countries like China also seem to perceive nonuse val-
this remote (as viewed from Beijing) region can be ex- ues. Not accounting for them would lead to an under-
plained by the existence of nonuse values. People in estimation of the social value accruing from environ-
Beijing are very concerned about the impending envi- mental projects, especially in the context of climate
ronmental deterioration in Northwest China as a con- policy. The results of the present study indicate that
sequence of climate change, particularly with a view for a comprehensive assessment of climate adaptation
on future generations, the desertification of landscape, projects in China also the preferences of people living
loss of biodiversity and the welfare of local people○ 1
. in regions far away from the project site should be con-
One limitation of this study is the rather small sidered for the decision if such a project is worthwhile
sample size. Due to the low number of observations, implementing from a social welfare point of view.
no regression analysis was conducted and therefore In practice, a full cost-benefit analysis of climate
no conclusions concerning the impact of indicators for adaptation policy in remote areas requires that the
nonuse values on WTP can be drawn. A larger study monetary estimate for the social benefit encompasses
with over 2,000 interviews is in preparation in order the preferences of all Chinese people both directly and
to derive stronger and more comprehensive results. indirectly affected by that policy. Although outside of
Critics frequently address the hypothetical re- the scope of present study, we suggest to use a mea-
sponse bias in CVM studies leading to an overstate- sure of aggregate WTP derived from a sample repre-
ment of WTP [Hausman, 2012]. The existence of a sentative of the entire Chinese population for assess-
hypothetical bias can be checked by comparing stated ing whether the implementation of climate adaptation
WTP with actual behavior of respondents. In this measures in the Tarim River Basin is worth its costs.
study we offered respondents the chance to donate the
Acknowledgements
money we had given them as a compensation for par-
ticipating in our interviews. This donation would ben- This research was conducted in the context of the
efit people in the Tarim area directly. While the share Sino-German joint research project SuMaRiO which is
of people willing to donate real money to the Tarim founded by the German Ministry of Education and Re-
search, and as an international cooperation project, sup-
area was lower than the share of people willing to pay
ported by the Ministry of Science and Technology (No.
for climate adaptation measures in the hypothetical
2011DFG23440). This work is also supported by the Na-
setting (59% and 77% respectively) the amount of the
tional Science Foundation of China (No. 41171406). We
donation (30 RMB) was almost twice as high as the also want to thank Prof. DAI Tang-Ping and his students
stated average monthly WTP (16.50 RMB). Thus, the from Minzu University of China for supporting the survey
donation experiment provides at least some evidence in Beijing.
that the majority of respondents in Beijing is indeed
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