Tasmanian landowner preferences for conservation incentive programs: a latent class approach

Incentive programs aimed at encouraging private landowners to set aside areas of forest for their conservation value have existed in Australia for more than two decades. Many programs restrict the use of the land by legal agreements or other means and some programs offer the landowner financial compensation. Most programs are based on voluntary entry by landowners. Programs available in Tasmania have added significantly to the total forest area conserved on private land. Nevertheless, in some regions more than 80 percent of land with conservation value remains unprotected and programs routinely fail to meet enrolment targets. This has resulted in considerable debate about the design of programs and has resulted in an increase in the amount of compensation offered and the introduction of more flexible conservation management options. In a limited number of situations, the option of forcing landowner entry into conservation incentive programs has also been considered. The objective of this study is to provide information for policy makers that hasn't existed before and that can be used in designing conservation programs. An improved understanding of landowners' decision framework, their motivation and the strength of their behavioral response will facilitate better forecasting of landowner participation decisions which may lead to an increase in landowner enrolment in programs. In this dissertation a conceptual model of landholders' participation choice is developed that combines a traditional utility maximisation framework with information about landowner attitudes. An empirical model of landowners' conservation incentive program choice is then developed. The model is estimated using stated preference data from a Best-Worst and a Choice survey. The responses to the Best-Worst survey, which was carried out first, were used to determine the choice set for the subsequent Choice survey. The Best-Worst survey was also used to explore differences between the perceived importance of program attributes by program designers and administrators, and landowners.