Project Page Views: [ 627 ]
| Project Metadata Element | Details |
| Project Title | Research on Public Attitudes towards Water resources |
| Research Area | Water |
| Project Acronym | |
| Principal Investigator or Lead Irish Partner | Cathal O Donoghue |
| Lead Institution or Organisation | Teagasc |
| Lead Country | Ireland |
| Latitude, Longitude (of Lead Institution) | 52.84828, -6.91743 |
| Lead Funding Entity | Environmental Protection Agency |
| Approximate Project Start Date | 01/01/2012 |
| Approximate Project Finishing Date | 01/09/2012 |
| Project Website (if any) | |
| Links to other Web-based resources | |
| Project Keywords | Policy; Irish public; Water Framework Directive; Water quality |
| Project Abstract | In ensuring an optimal mix of policies, policymakers need to make decisions which are informed by the values and priorities which are expressed by the Irish public in relation to the desirable outcomes from the implementation of the WFD. Within this context, this study will develop an attitudinal based survey to establish the specific attributes of high quality water that are most relevant for Irish citizens. This survey will also establish the priority that the public, as a whole, place on preserving and improving resources of high quality water bodies as compared with other environmental objectives and establish the specific attributes of high quality water that are of most relevance for Irish citizens. These results would make it clear how high a priority water quality is for the public, and so inform policy discussion in this area. In addition, this project will determine the general publics WTP for increasing the ecological quality of water sources from a good or moderate status to one of high quality. In doing so this study will also explore a number of methodological issues in relation to the calculation of WTP including the effect of distance decay for users and non-users, scope and ordering effects. Three reports will be presented to the EPA summarising the results from this research project. A workshop will also be organised to disseminate the research to interested parties. Building on the strong publication record of the research team, research conducted under this project will lead to a number of publications in peer reviewed journals. Members of the project team will also present the results from this research at a number of national and international conferences. |