In recent decades, despite their value, coral reefs have been endangered and are swiftly declining because of land overuse, rising sea temperatures, and increasing ocean acidification. This study assesses the willingness to pay (WTP) for coral reef conservation in Japan. We conducted an online discrete choice experiment with 10,573 respondents. A latent class logit model framework was used, and three respondent classes were recognized. The first, consisting of about 60% of respondents, had the highest income level and a willingness to pay 326,036–414,391 JPY (100 JPY ≓ 1 USD) over a lifetime. Individuals in the second class, comprising approximately 30% of the respondents, were willing to pay 9792–12,262 JPY. The third class, consisting of approximately 10% of the respondents, comprised individuals not willing to pay any amount. We also evaluated the relative preferences of respondents for different conservation scenarios. The most preferred conservation target was total coral reef area, followed by scenic beauty, and species richness. We further estimate the effect of the types and amount of information on the WTP. Concise or detailed information with text and static images about coral reefs increased WTP by 11.7–19.1%. Providing video information, however, decreased the WTP by 4.9–7.0%.

在最近几十年中，尽管珊瑚礁具有重要价值，但由于土地过度使用，海洋温度升高和海洋酸化程度增加，珊瑚礁已濒临灭绝，并迅速下降。这项研究评估了日本为保护珊瑚礁付出的意愿（WTP）。我们对10,573名受访者进行了在线离散选择实验。使用了一个潜在类logit模型框架，并识别了三个响应者类。第一个是约60％的受访者，收入水平最高，并且愿意终生支付326,036–414,391日元（100日元≓1美元）。第二类人，约占受访者的30％，愿意支付9792-12,262日元。第三类约占受访者的10％，他们不愿支付任何款项。我们还评估了不同保护情景下受访者的相对偏好。最优选的保护目标是珊瑚礁总面积，其次是风景秀丽和物种丰富。我们进一步估计信息类型和数量对WTP的影响。有关珊瑚礁的文字或静态图片的准确或详细信息使WTP上升了11.7-19.1％。但是，提供视频信息会使WTP降低了4.9–7.0％。