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| June 2007 | National Research Flagship | Water For A Healthy Country |
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| June 2007 | National Research Flagship | Water For A Healthy Country |
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Valuing
Recreation in the Murray Further preliminary estimates indicate that visitors are sensitive to changes in access. If access to these sites were to change by 20 per cent, values per adult are estimated to change by over $60 per trip for the visitors to Barmah Forest, and by over $200 per trip for the Coorong. The project, conducted by Brenda Dyack, John Rolfe, Judith Harvey, Deborah O'Connell and Nick Abel, was part of a larger programme of research in the Water for a Healthy Country National Research Flagship into the range of uses and values of water in the Murray region. The two sites surveyed are recognised for their international importance for bird migration, feeding and breeding and as icon sites under the Murray-Darling Basin Ministerial Council's Living Murray Initiative. The research was motivated by a desire to enhance the ability of water managers to account for impacts of natural changes as well as impacts due to changes in water allocations among competing uses in the Murray River Basin in a way that goes beyond market values. The work can provide input into the challenge of managing water resources in the Murray-Darling Basin in a way that recognises the values visitors attach to the river and its floodplains. The non-market value estimates cover the values that people place on their recreational experience, including a range of benefits of the experience that visitors enjoy but do not purchase. The estimates are based on information gathered using face-to-face surveys of more than 1000 visitors to the regions in the first half of 2006. The information collected included who visits, why they visit, what they care about and what they do while at these sites. Important information about how much they spend on their trips and the effort they make to visit these sites formed the basis of the estimates of non-market values.
"This information can support policy development and decision making in a region that is becoming increasingly stressed environmentally and where the competition for water among users is intensifying," says Brenda Dyack, primary author of the report. "Prior to
this research only limited information about the characteristics of visitors
to these places on the Murray, or the value they attribute to their visits,
was available."
Contact: Brenda Dyack
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IN THIS EDITION:
Major collaboration aims to improve energy efficient water desalination Water Research Alliance for South-East Queensland Greenhouse gases cut WA rainfall Climate impacts on water security investigated for regional NSW New study predicts the impact of forests on water Valuing Recreation in the Murray Science challenges in the Great Barrier Reef catchment WATER RESOURCES: Quenching Data Thirst the First Step to Water Security New sensor technology advances Australia's water management Meet some scientists from the Water for a Healthy Country Flagship
EARLIER UPDATES
September
2005
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The Water for a Healthy Country Flagship is a CSIRO initiative and part of the National Research Flagships program that aims to deliver scientific solutions to advance Australia's most important national objectives. One of the largest scientific initiatives ever mounted in Australia, it aligns closely with the Federal Government's National Research Priorities. The initiative brings together our national research resources to deliver breakthroughs in fields ranging from healthcare to light metals and the environment. |
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Water for
a Healthy Country
Flagship CSIRO Editor: Leane Regan CSIRO Black Mountain Laboratories, Canberra, ACT, 2601 Phone: +61 2 6246 4565 Fax: +61 2 6246 5560 editor.healthycountry@csiro.au www.csiro.au/healthycountry/ |
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An assessment of the non-market recreational use values at two popular
Australian recreation areas has estimated the annual non-market value
enjoyed by recreational visitors at $70 million for 2006. This is based on
the study's estimates of non-market recreational use value of over $500 per
adult per trip for Barmah Forest and the Coorong and public sources that
place adult visitation at about 25,000 to Barmah Forest and just over
100,000 to the Coorong. 
A summary
of the report, Valuing recreation in the Murray, An assessment of the
non-market recreational values at Barmah Forest and the Coorong, notes
that the research has implications for both resource management decisions
and for future research using the economic valuation methodologies used in
the study. Also noted is the need for further research into the wider set of
non-market values held for these sites, as well as similar sites, along the
Murray-Darling Basin. These include Indigenous values, existence value,
bequeath values and the whole set of non-use values people hold for natural
assets such as Barmah Forest and the Coorong.
