Transnational Ecosystem Services: The Potential of Habitat Conservation for Waterfowl Through Recreational Hunting Activities

Abstract

This article explores transnational ecosystem services in North America, provided by winter habitat for waterfowl in western Mexico coastal lagoons, and the hunting industry supported by these birds in the United States. This article shows that the number of waterfowl harvested in the United States is related to the abundance of waterfowl wintering in Mexico. On average, this flow of ecosystem services annually yields US$ 4.68 million in hunting stamp sales in the western United States. A demand curve, fitted to duck hunting licenses as a function of stamp price and previous-year waterfowl harvest, estimated US$3–6 million in consumer surplus produced in addition to governmental stamp sales revenue. This strongly suggests that waterfowl wintering habitat in western Mexico is economically valuable to U.S. hunters. Because hunters may benefit substantially from these habitats they may be willing to pay for conservation efforts in western Mexico that can result in transnational benefits received in the United States.

Keywords:

• transnational economic benefits
• wetlands
• Gulf of California
• coastal lagoons
• mangrove
• conservation

Acknowledgments

We thank M. Otto, B. Raftovich, and K. Richkus for their assistance with the databases and literature. I. Fogel of the Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas del Noroeste provided valuable editorial comments.

Funding

Funding for this study was provided to O.A.O. and C.H.G.A. by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and the Walton Family Foundation. N.T.R.C. is the recipient of a national graduate fellowship from the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología of Mexico (CONACYT) and the UC Institute for Mexico and the United States (UC MEXUS).

Notes

© Nadia T. Rubio-Cisneros, Octavio Aburto-Oropeza, Jason Murray, Charlotte E. Gonzalez-Abraham, Jeremy Jackson, Exequiel Ezcurra.