Stakeholders' latent preferences for invasive species control programs: the case of Crofton Weed (Eupatorium adenophorum) in Chuxiong, Yunnan, China

Abstract

Crofton Weed (Eupatorium adenophorum) is a severe threat to the environment and economy in China. Controlling Crofton Weed involves several challenges: fluctuating and insufficient funding, difficulty in evaluating environmental goods, and multiple stakeholders with different expectations. This study used conjoint choice experiment (CCE) and interviews to evaluate stakeholder preferences for control programs in Chuxiong, Yunnan, China. Latent class analysis (LCA) was used to examine how social background affects choice behavior. This study reveals that farmers and officials similarly evaluate programs based on all attributes while scientists concentrate on one or two location-specific attributes. Generally, government funding will be most effective with control programs supported by a majority of stakeholders. However, local implementation should modify programs based on socio-demographic data. This study shows that people are willing to pay more than current expenditures to protect environmental resources, and demonstrates that CCE and LCA can be used to evaluate preference differences between socio-demographic background groups.