Valuing environmental attributes of MPAs in the market price of real estate, Moreton Bay, Queensland, Australia

The amenity attributes of a marine landscape, including visual landscape, wildlife, flora, open space, clean water, absence of noise, etc., are normally treated as an economic benefit and the loss of such values as a form of negative externality or undesirable spillover from industry or development. Amenity attributes are not private goods. It is not possible to exclude others from enjoying them and, in many cases, the enjoyment of these attributes by one person does not necessarily reduce the enjoyment by others. In short, there are no property rights over these amenities and hence, if their provision were left to the market, supply would be less than efficient. The failure of the market to produce such amenity values or attributes suggests that there is a role for government to ensure their provision to maximize benefits for society as a whole. This study is concerned with identifying and estimating a value for environmental attributes provided by marine park areas, and specifically environmental attributes resulting from the 2009 re-zoning of the Moreton Bay Marine Park by the Queensland Department of the Environment and Resource Management.