ECONOMIC VALUE OF ECOSYSTEM SERVICES IN THE EASTERN ORE MOUNTAINS

The paper presents the results of a research project aiming at determining the economic value of selected ecosystem services in the Eastern Ore Mountains. The use of the dynamically evolving concept of economic services, used to identify economically utilisable services provided by undamaged ecosystems, can thus contribute to dealing with the issues of optimum landscape management. The primary data collection took place in the summer of 2013; a total of 216 questionnaires were collected. The research focused on three ecosystems, namely montane meadows, clearance cairns and quasi-natural mountain streams. The paper presents and discusses primarily the results of a choice experiment that was used to determine the willingness to pay for defined changes in the ecosystems examined. The research showed that visitors to the Eastern Ore Mountains unambiguously prefer a natural (authentic) or quasi-natural condition of the landscape and that people are able to distinguish among the different situations well (e.g., different appearance of montane meadows, mountain streams, clearance cairns, etc.). People prefer montane meadows scythed without farm animals, clearance cairns not overgrown, and streams with a quasi-natural character. The authors point out the finding that the research results indicate a strong connection of the local population to the local landscape and ecosystems, the potential of which in relation to nature protection and landscape management is totally unutilised at the moment. Special attention is paid to a specific ecosystem, not studied yet in the Czech Republic – the clearance cairns, which showed (contrary to expectations) a noticeably higher willingness to pay for their good management compared to the other ecosystems examined.