Evaluating desired outcomes of peatland management

Peatlands are globally important habitats, covering an estimated 4.23 million km 2 worldwide. The significance of peatlands to climate change, and across ecosystem services, makes their protection a key policy area across Europe. The large areas and long timescales needed for peatland management means that both private and public funding is required. Additionally, links with society, development, and culture mean that stakeholder involvement in decision making is central to the success of peatland policy. To ensure that peatland policy and management is legitimate and able to persist in the long-term, understanding individual preferences for outcomes is therefore vital. To this end we carried out a choice experiment in Scotland, UK, supported by a literature review and expert workshop. We build on previous choice experiments to investigate preferences for outcomes of management, including: climate change, impacts on drought and flood risk, timber restocking and wind farms. Final analysis included 762 valid responses, which showed no significant difference to the characteristics to the Scottish population for all demographic variables measured with the exception of education. Our sample under-represented those with education below secondary level, and above bachelors level. All choice experiment attributes were significant, with the exception of community owned timber. A positive willingness to pay for management in general was estimated. Value was not impacted by familiarity with peatlands, but higher willingness to pay was associated with more positive environmental attitudes. Overall, our results support the Scottish and global policy agenda on peatland management to combat climate change. However, preferences are also shown for both wind farms and timber restocking, which may run counter to this.