Economic value of protected areas via visitor mental health

Abstract

We evaluate methods to calculate the economic value of protected areas derived from the improved mental health of visitors. A conservative global estimate using quality-adjusted life years, a standard measure in health economics, is US$6 trillion p.a. This is an order of magnitude greater than the global value of protected area tourism, and two to three orders greater than global aggregate protected area management agency budgets. Future research should: refine this estimate using more precise methods; consider interactions between health and conservation policies and budgets at national scales; and examine links between personalities and protected area experiences at individual scale.

Fig. 1

Flowchart of calculation pathways for health services value of protected areas. Seven-block flowchart of calculation pathways for health services value of protected areas, showing three major pathways. History, frequency, and intensity of protected-area visitation (block 1) affects mental health and quality of life of park visitors (block 3), but these are also affected by demographic and socioeconomic factors, physical health factors, and non-park greenspace use (block 2), which must therefore be controlled for. Costs (block 4) can be linked to mental health either via quality-adjusted life years (yellow boxes), individual cost components (black lines), or direct correlation with park visit patterns (red lines). Cost reductions (block 6) also depend on national healthcare funding systems (block 5). The health services value of protected areas (block 7) is the net reduction in aggregate costs of poor mental health, derived from visitation to protected areas. The three pilot studies presented here use the $/QALY pathway, shown in yellow boxes, with three different measures of park use (block 1)

Fig. 2

Distribution of quality-of-life improvement derived from protected area visitation. Distribution of quality-of-life (QOL) improvement derived from protected area visitation across the sample population, pilot trial 2. Vertical axis shows QOL improvement, measured as % increase in self-perceived personal wellbeing index, PWI, controlled for socioeconomic and demographic factors and non-park greenspace use. Horizontal axis shows proportions of sample population. Colours show the number of visits to protected areas during the preceding 12 months. For low annual visit frequencies, 0–5 inclusive, frequencies are also indicated by numerals above the bars. Thirty per cent of the sample had not visited parks at all during the past year, and hence experienced no improvement in PWI. The majority of the sample population, shown in purple, had visited a protected area 1–5 times in the preceding year, yielding small but significant improvements in self-perceived wellbeing. Much smaller proportions of the sample population, shown in blue, green, and yellow, had visited monthly, weekly or daily, with improvements in PWI up to ~8%