A Pilot Study for Estimation of Environmental Losses of Pastoral Area Within Mineral Exploitation: A Case Study in Urat Rear Banner, Inner Mongolia, China

In grassland areas subject to pollution caused by mining, such as the Urat Rear Banner in Inner Mongolia, a reasonable compensation scenario for local herders should be considered. Willingness to pay (WTP) was assessed with the use of Contingent Valuation (CV) methodology to estimate the value for environmental losses. The results indicated that: (1) The local environmental problem included water pollution, dust, vegetation degradation, and waste pollution; (2) 65.79% of herders were not satisfied with the compensation and 56.41% of herders disagreed mining in grassland; and (3) the WTP has been estimated at 641.18 yuan annually per household. The total WTP in the mining area of Urat Rear Banner was estimated to 15,771,104.5 yuan annually with interval estimates of 8,036,331.84 yuan and 25,918,104.9 yuan.

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