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Wild salmon face an alarming decline in numbers around the globe due to various reasons from which a great part serves the decrease of water quality and habitat destruction. Keeping in mind the benefits associated with wild salmon new measures and forms of social involvement are urgent before it becomes impossible to safeguard the species of interest. Followed by the international recommendations this study supported the use of a bottom-up working approach taking into account public opinion. A socio-economic field study was conducted regarding the values associated with wild salmon followed by the examples of several case studies obtained in Europe and overseas. The study used a contingent valuation method in order to draw the attitudes and the willingness to pay for the re-introduction of wild salmon in the River Ogre, Latvia. The study included analyses of different opinions towards the values of wild salmon. Two distinct respondent groups i.e. anglers/fisherman and non-anglers/fisherman living within the municipality of Ogre, Latvia were included in the sample reaching a response rate of 56 per cent. The average estimate as a single payment in 2015 of the willingness to pay reached a value of around 27±9, 95%, CI EUR/household/this year excluding zero and protest bids where the value lowered to 12±4, 95% CI EUR/household/this year when zero bids were included. The Welch Two sample t-test indicated that respondents under certain social categories such as fishermen/angler, men, respondents with family members fishing/angling and environmentally aware respondents were willing to pay more. Besides providing estimates on the willingness to pay, the study revealed that also non-fishermen/anglers gave a high importance of the values associated with wild salmon. A great deal of respondents ranked the benefits driven by non-use and non-consumptive values of wild salmon as “important” or “very important”. The outcome of the study has provided one of the first insights of the importance of wild salmon held by Latvian citizens. It is up to the public and researchers to be heard by the decision makers.

Magister Artium (Development Studies) - MA(DVS) / Medicinal plants remain a very important natural resource used as traditional medicines for health needs in many developing countries. In the current deepening economic and political crises in Zimbabwe a significant number of the population has inevitably relied more on natural resources which has led to receding population and scarcity of many medicinal plant species in their natural habitat. It is against this background that this research, using Rural Eastern Zimbabwe that this study explored the extent to which use values of medicinal plants increased since the Zimbabwean crises and the different use values of these species among men and women. The rational choice theory, use value approach and concept of utility constituted a theoretical grounding of the research process. The study essentially used qualitative research methods with some quantitative data. A mix of interviews and focus group discussions were employed for this study. Interviews were conducted with community leaders, traditional healers, NGOs in the similar field and Government stakeholders eliciting their views on use values of medicinal plants and sustainable interventions that can be enacted in conserving these species. The findings of the study were shown through using tables, charts and the quantitative data was presented using STATA. The calculated total usevalues of the 11 medicinal plants showed that Kirkia ancuminata Oliv, Dicoma anomala Sond, Syzgium guineense DC, Zingiber offinale, Acacia Karoo Hayne were found to have “high total use-values” and Lannea edulis Engl, Aloe, Lippia javanica Spreng, Virtex payos merril, parinari curatelli and Coleochloa setiflora have “low total use-values”

My central concern in this thesis is to extend understandings of how the social categories of rurality, gender and class are implicated in subjective meanings and the claiming of worth (associated with paid work) for a group of rural-based wine production workers. However, this concern does not reflect a relativist stance whereby all gendered, classed and rural experiences are read as equal but different, as this would deny symbolic and material inequalities. The core research question is: What gendered classed and rural subjective meanings do women and men production workers in the wine industry give their working selves? A key impetus for this study was my desire to represent working people's lives through a dynamic model of class, gender and rurality that overcomes the limitations of analyses which portray the lives of people, who have limited access to dominant symbolic discourses and processes, solely through the lens of deficit models of class and gender (Savage 2000, 2005; Skeggs 2004a). The overall methodological approach stressed the 'qualitative'. A feminist interpretation of constructivist grounded theory methodology framed the research (Charmaz 2000). Data generation involved two in-depth, face-to-face interviews with a sample of 16 workers (8 women and 8 men) based within the production function of a rural-based corporate wine organisation in South Australia. In the first interview I used a life history orientated approach and in the second I used a semi-structured interview schedule to examine the workers' current working lives, reflecting an understanding that rather than merely having experiences, 'subjects are constituted through experience' (Skeggs 1997). Interpretative analysis (using NUDIST) of the data re-orientated my engagement with established analyses of rurality, gender and class in order to build new, empirically-driven understandings of how multiple social categories are implicated in lived experiences. Preliminary data analysis led me to engage with Bourdieu's (1984) key concept of economic, social and cultural capitals as an analytical tool to examine how rural, gendered and classed lived experiences gave meanings to these workers. I have also paid attention to Skeggs' (2004a) argument that contemporary 'class making' involves uneven value attribution, the conferring of use values on practices and goods, engagement with inscriptions of value (inscription of lack of value and contestation of this), and critique of 'undeserved' exchange-based capitals as well as unequal access to exchangeable capitals. Skeggs' theoretical contribution has been extended to gendered and rural processes to examine how workers claim worth (as a worker) through these as well as classed processes. An exploration of the workers' family and work-based trajectories (including family historical ties to the local wine region, educational experiences and working trajectories) demonstrates the multiple ways in which class, gender and rurality are involved in lived experiences. The data highlight the ongoing influences of accrual of capital values (both use and exchange) tied to family upbringing and working trajectories, while analysis of current meanings of work provides greater detail on how the workers engage with value attribution of capital values, claiming worth in their work through challenging 'undeserved' capital values of winemakers, managers and technical experts.

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No abstract. / Coastal and marine ecosystems are some of the most heavily exploited with increasing degradation. This alarming situation appeals for urgent and effective actions. The optimal balance between use and conservation of ecosystems theoretically requires all costs and benefits to be considered in decision-making, including intangible costs and benefits such as non-market use and non-use values. The broad aim of this PhD is to examine how these economic values associated with coastal and marine ecosystem services can be measured, and how the economic valuation exercise may be considered and influence management decision- making.The first analytical part of the thesis focuses on assessing non-market use and non-use values, through econometric methods. The characterization and estimation of non-use values are complex and controversial, especially when the valuation exercise is focusing on individuals who are users of the ecosystem services being considered. An original approach based on a stated preference method, namely choice experiments, is developed then empirically applied in quantifying non-market values for marine and coastal ecosystems in two areas in New Caledonia. It allows the estimation of non-use values for populations of users in an implicit way. An in-depth analysis of the individuals’ choice heuristics during the valuation exercise is also conducted, with a focus on payment non-attendance. This issue is dealt with by comparing multiple modelling approaches in terms of: (1) inferred attendance, in relation to stated attendance; (2) attendance distribution according to several socio-economic variables; and (3) welfare estimates.After noting that the potential influence of economic valuation in decision making is unclear and largely unexplored in the literature, the second major component of this PhD aims to examine if, how and to what extent the economic valuation of ecosystem services, including measures of non-market values, influence decision-making regarding coastal and marine ecosystems management in Australia. Based on two nation-wide surveys, the perceived usefulness of the economic valuation of ecosystem services by the general public and decision-makers is studied, and the reasons why decision-makers may or may not fully consider economic values are elicited. Using a multi-criteria analysis, a part of the surveys also aims at examining the relative importance of different evaluation criteria (ecological, social and economic) when assessing the consequences of a hypothetical coastal development project on commercial activities, recreational activities and marine biodiversity.