Attitudes toward disaster-prevention risk in Japanese coastal areas: analysis of civil preference
Natural Hazards, February 2016, pp. 1-18, doi:10.1007/s11069-016-2210-7
This study uses a choice experiment to investigate opinions of coastal citizens about i) the acceptable loss of coastal wildlife species as a tradeoff for seawalls; ii) the willingness to pay (WTP) for conservation of coastal wildlife as a compromise for disaster risk reduction; iii) the influence on popular preferences in coastal management of individual characteristics, such as frequency of visiting the sea and public recognition of disaster risk; and iv) civil trust in scientific information. The survey was conducted among 7496 respondents in municipalities around the Japanese coast.
According to the study, people who frequently visit the sea preferred ecosystem conservation and disliked seawall construction, whereas people strongly recognizing disaster risks preferred seawall construction. Furthermore, it found that civil trust in scientific information affects civil preferences regarding coastal management. The study indicates the need to reduce negative effects of coastal constructions on coastal ecosystems and to consider other options, such as ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction. It also indicates the social influences of raising public trust in scientific information to enable citizens to make better decisions regarding coastal management.