Non-use value of wetland ecosystem in Beijing

Non-use value is an inherent attribute of ecosystem.To scientifically and rationally evaluate this value is of significance in managing and properly allocating ecological resources.By adopting contingent valuation method(CVM)and via the investigation of habitants' willingness to pay(WTP),this paper quantitatively evaluated the non-use value of wetland ecosystem in Beijing.Because of the socio-economic differences,Beijing was divided into two sub-regions,i.e.,urban sub-region and suburb sub-region.According to the populations in the regions,600 questionnaires in urban region and 300 questionnaires in suburb region were handed out in October 2008,and,by using modified random sampling model and taking family as a unit,the questionnaires fed back from the two sub-regions were analyzed respectively.As for the habitants in urban sub-region,the non-use value of the wetland ecosystem was 199 million Yuan per year;and for those in rural sub-region,the non-use value was 66 million Yuan per year.The analysis on the relationships between society features and WTP showed that habitants' educational background and age were the main factors affecting the WTP,and monthly income had significant effects on the WTP in suburb sub-region but no significant effects in urban sub-region.