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MILJØFORSK-Miljøforskning for en grønn samfunnsomstilling

VALUECHANGE: Valuation of Cultural and Environmental Goods for Integrated Assessment and Decision-making: From Promise to Practice

Alternative title: VERDIENDRING: Verdsetting av kultur- og miljøgoder for helhetlig analyse og forvaltning.

Awarded: NOK 9.6 mill.

Urbanisation in Norway increases the pressure on the remaining cultural and environmental goods (CES), and this may in turn change the use and social values of these goods. This will have consequences for the choice of political solutions concerning the use of such goods along the urban rural gradient. VALUECHANGE (VC) is an interdisciplinary project that has aimed at assessing, valuing, and integrating the importance of CES in decision making. The project has been especially focused on cultural ecosystem services, including biodiversity, cultural landscapes and natural & cultural heritage in a broad sense and the importance of these for society. The project has aimed to improve the knowledge about the importance of CES for urban and rural communities so that it can be used in a more holistic decision making, including cost benefit analysis (CBA), impact assessments and physical planning. VC has gathered new data through population surveys of people’s preferences and values and more in-depth case studies. These studies have improved the knowledge about non-monetary and monetary values of CES, the trade-offs that are made between different goods, and people’s opinions about the use and the users of these goods. VC has also investigated the change in trade-offs on the urban-rural gradient, for instance how value creation is important locally while nature and environmental goods can be important for a wider population. The project was implemented by a core team from Statistics Norway, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research, Norwegian Institute for Bioeconomy Research, and Menon Centre for Environmental and Resource Economics (MERE) supported by an international expert panel and a Norwegian user group. VC has mapped land use efficiency and reallocation of areas in Norwegian communities and published the results in Kart og plan and an op ed in Kommunal rapport, discussing the potential to reduce land use change through reuse (A (= Activity) 1.1). VC has contributed to a report that categorises various natural areas in Norway based on available map-based data (A1.1, 4.3). VC has published two popular science articles on measuring quality of life and two journal articles on quality of life in cities are for revision (Cities and Regional Studies) (A2.2), a non-monetary indicator of value. An MA thesis explored how perceived quality of life affects the valuation of environmental goods (A 2.2, 2.3). A Q-study of preferences for the preservation and management of cultural heritage, with both rural and urban participants (A2.2). VC has contributed to an article on preferences for cultural landscapes in Landscape Research (Level 2). VC has contributed to a journal article (Environmental and Resource Economics (ERE)) and supported 4 MA theses, all addressing the validity of non-market valuation methods (A2.1, 2.2). VC has contributed to an article on the method and protocol for value transfer published in ERE (A2.3). VC has conducted a survey on vacation home construction in the Norefjell area. The survey maps the preferences of the local community, vacation home users and non-users from the larger cities nearby (A3.1) and estimates local value creation from vacation home tourism (A 3.3). This sub-project provided data for VC-PhD fellow Iversen’s two (of four) dissertation articles and for an MA-thesis. The data is input to a regional and a local CBA of vacation home construction in the Norefjell area and is under a 2nd review in Tourism Management (level 2) (A3.1, 4.1, 4.3). This study led to an op ed and interview in national newspapers Aftenposten and Morgenbladet, respectively. The study has been, among other, an invited presentation in the Norwegian Environment Agency. VC gathered a large data set for a study on home prices, residency requirement and characteristics of the natural environment (A 3.2) (analysis after project end). A case-study of the links between quality of life and environment will also be completed after project end (A2.2., 3.1, 4.1). VC has taken advantage of data and synergies between several research- and other projects to make VC as relevant as possible for research and governmental management. VC has contributed to CBA of climate forest planting published in Land Use Policy (level 2), and a CBA of management of coastal heaths (SSB report) (A 4.2). VC has contributed to the analysis of municipalities' lacking impact assessment of environmental issues and studied a nature tax as a tool for management (A 4.3), an article on the UN's SEEA EA using economic valuation methods in Samfunnsøkonomen and a book chapter in the Inclusive Wealth Report 2018 (A 4.3). VC arranged an international expert workshop (Lillehammer 21-23 Jan. 2020) and a professional seminar for users and other guests from the administration on 30 Oct. 2021 and on 29 Sep. 2022. The project has a website on Statistics Norway, a Facebook page and has produced four newsletters.

Valuechange (VC) has strengthened the interdisciplinary cooperation among the research partners and contributed to extensive knowledge sharing on topics including land use change on an urban-rural gradient, cultural heritage, monetary and non-monetary valuation and quality of life. VC-partners have also cooperated and co-authored academic papers with researchers from other institutions both national and international, having thereby broadened the research network of the project participants. An international scientific project workshop contributed to this cooperation. VC-PhD-fellow, Endre Iversen successfully defended his dissertation on January 13th, 2023. The dissertation contains 4 papers where two are published in Level 2 journals and two are under review. The project has supported 5 MA-theses. VC acquired and analysed a large, stated preference dataset on preferences for vacation homes (used in 2 papers on Iversen’s PhD), and data on the monetary benefits for local and non-local businesses of vacation home construction and tourism. VC has achieved 13 peer reviewed scientific publications, 3 SSB discussion papers, 1 book chapter, 7 popular science publications and 1 new publication in the media (and one in 2023) and 53 various dissemination outputs for users (reports, presentations etc.). A study on residency requirement, a Q-study on preferences for preservation of cultural heritage, and a study on subjective wellbeing, will be analysed/finalised after project end. VC arranged one international scientific workshop, two workshops for the reference group/stakeholders and has published 4 newsletters—contributing to dissemination of research findings and to discussions. VC has contributed with reports of interest to national authorities with analysis of population preferences related to peri-urban/rural land use change and management. The project has provided new knowledge on monetary estimates and a novel cost benefit analysis (CBA) of vacation home construction which can be used by policy makers and other stakeholders. The CBA of vacation home construction was presented by invitation for Norwegian Environment Agency. VC contributed to the final conference of the NFR project Climate land, presenting a CBA of climate forest planting for a large audience of stakeholders. VC results have been actively communicated and used in practical policy analyses and recommendations. In addition to academic publications and freely available discussion papers, VC results has received national and local media attention. The results from the project are expected to continue to be useful and synergistic for several public policy processes related to both national and municipal land use policies and for ministries, directorates, and other stakeholders. We thus consider the outcome of the project to be valuable input into the decision process, policy development and policy design relating to land use change on a rural urban gradient.

This interdisciplinary project aims to assess, value and integrate the importance (values) of cultural and environmental goods (in particular cultural ecosystem services, including biodiversity, and cultural heritage in a broad sense) for social welfare in a rural-urban context. Including such values in cost-benefit analysis, impact assessments and spatial planning is essential for better informed integrated decision-making. Through two national valuation studies, with place-specific cases, the project will generate knowledge of the monetary and-monetary values of environmental and cultural goods, a necessity for understanding actual and perceived trade-offs between uses and users of these goods on spatial and temporal scales. We will investigate how people's preferences and the pressures on scarce resources are both changing because of urbanisation in Norway. We will then assess the implications of these changes for values of cultural and environmental goods, and for policy solutions in rural and urban areas. In addition, the project will analyse the value creation potential of selected cultural and environmental goods. As such, the project directly addresses all four call themes. A core team from Statistics Norway, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research, Norwegian Institute for Bioeconomy Research and Menon Center for Environmental and Resource Economics (MERE) will implement the project. A PhD researcher is proposed in the project, co-funded 30%. An interdisciplinary expert group with distinguished international participation will provide research guidance and share experiences with practical use of valuation. Finally, the Directorate for Cultural Heritage, the Culture Heritage Fund, Design and Architecture Norway (DOGA), WWF, Norwegian Recreational Home Owner Association, Norwegian Agriculture Association, Environment Agency (all confirmed Jan 2018) represent user interests in an actively involved user panel.

Publications from Cristin

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MILJØFORSK-Miljøforskning for en grønn samfunnsomstilling