A National-level Economic Valuation Study of the Environmental Services provided by Marine Habitats in St Vincent and the

Final report

by Prof Mike Christie (Aberystwyth University) and Dr Sonja Teelucksingh (University of the West Indies)

July 2012

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Executive summary

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Expansion of marine protected areas in SVG

St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) comprise a series of islands located in the Eastern . The main island St. Vincent is 345 km2, while the Grenadines (44 km2) comprise a series of smaller island. The SVG islands are surrounded by extensive coral reefs and sea grass beds, which are home to significant biodiversity including several endemic species (NPRBA, 2009).

The Government of St Vincent and the Grenadines (GoSVG) is committed to the worldwide effort to conserve biodiversity as enshrined in the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). SVG’s protected area policies are set out in the GoSVG’s ‘SVG National Parks and Protected Areas System Plan 2010 – 2014’ report (NPRBA, 2009). Currently, the GoSVG has designated 35 protected area sites in SVG; of which there is one Marine Park, one Marine Reserve and six Marine Conservation Areas (Table 1). Following recommendations from Jackson (2004), the GoSVG now wish to streamline and consolidate SVG’s protected area system. The proposed new system would include five Marine Parks, three Marine Reserves and three Marine Conservation Areas (Table 1).

Table 1: Current and proposed marine protected area designations in SVG. Designation Current Protection Proposed Protection Tobago Cays St Vincent South Coast

Marine 1

Tobago Cays Chateaubelair Islet Marine Park

 Parks 1

Petit Byahaut Marine Park 1  Anchor Reef Marine Park

Canouan Marine  Tobago Cays Isle de Quatre

Reserves

Mustique 

Marine Bequia 

Conservation Petit St Vincent Petit St Vincent

 Areas Union Island / Palm Union Island / Palm Island

Increasinglevels of protection Island  Isle de Quatre

Notes :1 Chateaubelair Islet Marine Park, Petit Byahaut Marine Park, and Anchor Reef Marine Park are collectively referred to as the St Vincent ‘Leeward coast’ Marine Park in this report. 2

To provide evidence to support this activity, as well as directly address the CBD Programme of Work on Protected Areas (PoWPA) Activity 3.1.2, the GoSVG has commissioned this research to undertake ‘A national-level Economic Valuation Study (EVS) of the environmental services provided by the marine habitats in St. Vincent and the Grenadines’.

Research method

This study provides an assessment of the economic value of ecosystem services associated with two future options for MPAs in SVG: an ‘improved’ scenario in which MPA protection is increased, and a ‘decline’ scenario in which MPA protection is reduced. Two case study MPA sites are evaluated: the proposed St Vincent South Coast MPA and the Tobago Cays MPA. In addition, an assessment of the economic value of all proposed marine protected areas in SVG was also undertaken. Two economic valuation methods were used to assess the value of SVG’s MPAs:  Choice experiments (CE): CEs are a stated preference valuation technique that estimates economic values for a bundle of attributes associated with environment goods. In CE, survey respondents are presented with a series of policy scenarios and then asked to choose their preferred scenario (from a choice set of usually three scenarios). In this study, the scenarios related to future policy options for SVG’s marine protected areas, where these scenarios were described in terms of a bundle of six ecosystem service benefits: Fish numbers, Coastal protection, Human Health, Ecosystem resilience, Beach recreation, and Diving / snorkelling. The analysis of respondent choices allowed economic values to be attained for these ecosystem service attributes under an ‘improved’ scenario and a ‘decline’ scenario.  Contingent valuation (CV): CV is also a stated preference valuation technique, in which survey respondents are directly asks to report their willingness to pay (WTP) to obtain a specified good, or willingness to accept (WTA) to give up a good. In this study, the CV method is used to assess respondent’s willingness to pay to enhance marine protected areas across all SVG from a situation where all MPAs would be in a ‘declined’ condition to one of an ‘improved’ condition. In this research, the CE and CV were administered through a series of deliberative valuation workshops. During these workshops, participants were first presented with information on the future policy options for SVG’s Marine Protected Areas and asked to discuss their use of the marine environment and activities that might impact marine ecosystems. Following these discussions, the CE and then CV questions were posed. Finally, socio-economic and attitudinal data were collected. A total of 70 people participated in the St Vincent South Coast valuation workshops, while 52 people participated in the Tobago Cays workshops. It should be noted that this study only investigated the economic benefits of residents of SVG. However, a second study relating to the values that tourists have for ecosystem services is to be undertaken in 2012 / 2013.

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Results The economic analysis of the benefits / costs associated with changes to the levels of ecosystem services delivered by Marine Protect Areas in SVG was undertaken using two methodological approaches: a choice experiment (CE) study, and a contingent valuation (CV) study

Choice experiment results

Table 2 reports the annual consumer surplus values that local households (HH) had for changes to the levels of ecosystem services associated with the ‘improved’ and ‘decline’ scenarios for Marine Protected Areas at three case study sites: the St Vincent South Coast, Tobago Cays and All MPAs in SVG. In the table, the values shown in bold are considered to be robust value estimates since these are based ecosystem services attributes that were significant in the choice models: those not highlighted in bold were not significant in the choice models and therefore care should be taken in the interpretation of these values. The ‘All Ecosystem Services’ row represent the total amount that respondents would be willing to pay for the ‘improved’ and ‘decline’ scenarios, where this value is estimated by aggregating the ‘significant’ (ie bold) ecosystem services.

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Table 2: Consumer surplus values for ecosystem services in the St Vincent South Coast MPA, Tobago Cays MPA, and All MPAs

Enhancement of ecosystem services through improving MPAs

St Vincent South Tobago Cays All MPAs in SVG Ecosystem Service Coast (EC$ / HH / Yr) (EC$ / HH / Yr) (EC$ / HH / Yr) Fishing -2.15 35.62 14.10 Coastal protection 28.84 9.49 54.17 Human health 42.04 20.80 -10.41 Ecosystem resilience 10.15 23.51 -6.72 Beach recreation 12.06 4.71 56.23 Diving / snorkelling -1.63 5.24 35.75 All Ecosystem 81.31 59.13 160.25 Services

Lost ecosystem services if MPA protection was removed

St Vincent South Tobago Cays All MPAs in SVG Ecosystem Service Coast (EC$ / HH / Yr) (EC$ / HH / Yr) (EC$ / HH / Yr) Fishing -43.93 -9.92 -42.48 5

Coastal protection -14.02 -23.83 14.74 Human health -57.82 -13.26 -83.43 Ecosystem resilience -38.87 -57.21 5.84 Beach recreation 5.91 -55.75 -56.57 Diving / snorkelling 6.69 -18.41 -0.01 All Ecosystem -154.64 -112.96 -182.48 Services

The household ecosystem service values from

Table 2 were then aggregated to the population of SVG:  St Vincent South Coast: The aggregate value of enhanced ecosystem services that would be delivered through improvements to the South Coast MPA is estimated to be between EC$850k / yr (~$315k USD) and EC$2.62 million / yr (~$967k USD), while the value of ecosystem services that would be lost if MPA protection was removed is estimated to be between EC$-1.62 million / yr (~$-600k USD) and EC$-4.988 million / yr (~$-1.84 million USD). The services most highly valued in the South coast are: protecting fish numbers, protecting and enhancing coastal protection, maintaining human health and enhancing ecosystem resilience.

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 Tobago Cays: The aggregate value of enhanced ecosystem services that would be delivered through improvements to the Tobago Cays MPA is estimated to be between EC$70k (~$26k USD) and EC$1.91 million / yr (~$709k USD / yr), while the value of ecosystem services that would be lost if MPA protection was removed is estimated to be between EC$-135k / yr (~$-50k USD) and EC$-3.64 million / yr (~$-1.25 million USD) in the Tobago Cays. The services most highly valued in the Tobago Cays are: enhancing fish numbers, enhancing ecosystem resilience and maintaining stable beaches.  All MPAs in SVG: Based on the choice experiment, the aggregate value of enhancements to ecosystem services delivered through improvements to all Marine Protected Areas in SVG is estimated to be between EC$1.87 million / Yr (~$0.69 million USD) to EC$4.85million / Yr (~$1.79 million USD), while the valued of ecosystem services that would be lost if MPA protection was removed is estimated to be EC$-2.13 million / Yr (~$0.79 million USD) to -EC$5.22 million / yr (~$2.04 million USD).

Contingent valuation results

Based on the CV study, the mean annual consumer surplus values for enhancements to Marine Protected Areas across all SVG (from a situation where all MPAs would be in a ‘declined’ condition to one of an ‘improved’ condition) was estimated to be EC$183 / HH / Yr. This value is lower than that found for the equivalent policy change in the choice experiment, i.e. EC$342 (which comprised EC$182 for prevent a decline in service provision from current levels plus EC$160 for improved provision). This finding where the CE study produces higher values than an equivalent CV study is not uncommon (see Christie and Azevedo, 2009 for a discussion on this issue).

The aggregate value of protection of ecosystem services in all SVG MPAs was estimated by multiplying the mean household consumer surplus values with the number of households in (i) the three study site districts (Kingstown, Calliaqua and South Grenadines = 11,687 households) which represents a lower bound estimate and (ii) all households in SVG (32,262 households) which represents an upper bound estimate. Based on these two aggregation regimes, the value of enhanced ecosystem services that would be delivered if all MPAs in SVG were enhanced (relative to a decline scenario) is estimated to be EC$2.14 million / Yr (~$0.79 million USD) to EC$5.905million / Yr ($2.19 million USD).

Policy implications

Our analysis also enabled estimates of the benefits that could be attained from different policy interventions used to improve MPAs (Table 3). Based on this analysis, it is predicted that stopping land based pollution in the South Coast would generate the greatest ecosystem services benefits (EC$279k / yr), followed by controlling sewage (EC$269 / yr), preventing sand-loss through mining stopping sand mining / protecting against damage to coral (EC$125k / yr) and introducing ‘No take’ zones (EC$107k / yr). The highest values for the 7

Tobago Cays were found for Stopping over fishing (EC$21k / yr), controlling land based pollution (EC$ 18k / yr) and for stopping sewage (EC$15k / yr) and introducing ‘No take’ zones sewage (EC$15k / yr). Across all MPA in SVG, the highest value benefits are associated with stopping sand mining and coral extraction (EC$1571k / yr) and stopping over fishing (EC$905k / yr).

Table 3: Economic benefits (EC$k / yr) of policy interventions to enhance MPAs. Stop Sewage Stop Stop Land Based Stop Introduce ‘No (yachts, Overfishing Pollution (mainly sandmining take zones’ houses and / bad agricultural, such / extraction that would ban hotels) fishing as pesticides, of coral fishing and practices eutrophication and anchoring

sedimentation

Fishing - - - - - Coastal protection 38 38 38 114 75 Water quality /

human health 221 - 221 - - Species diversity, ecosystem resilience

and genetic pool 11 32 21 11 32 Coast Beach recreation - - - - -

Vincent South Vincent Diving / snorkelling - - - - -

TOTAL VALUE (EC$k St / yr) 269 70 279 125 107 Fishing 12 12 12 - 6 Coastal protection - - - - - Water quality / - - - - - human health Species diversity, ecosystem resilience and genetic pool 3 8 6 3 8 Beach recreation - - - - -

TobagoCays Diving / snorkelling - - - - - TOTAL VALUE (EC$k / yr) 15 21 18 3 15 Fishing - - - - - Coastal protection 218 218 218 659 435 Water quality / human health - - - - - Species diversity, ecosystem resilience and genetic pool - - - - - Beach recreation 301 301 301 912 - Diving / snorkelling 255 387 255 - 255

All MPA in SVG MPA All in TOTAL VALUE (EC$k / yr) 774 905 774 1,571 691

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