Cost–benefit analysis of full and partial river restoration: the Kishon River in Israel

Restoration of rivers is important because they provide many ecosystem services. However, full restoration is costly, and with limited resources, the priority of the different elements of a restoration plan needs to be considered. In this article the benefits of separable restoration components were analyzed for the Kishon River in Israel. The proposed restoration plan contained four segments: riverbed cleaning, ecological restoration, accessibility, and sports facilities. We used non-market valuation to estimate benefits and found the full restoration programme to pass the cost–benefit test, but partial restoration to be more efficient. Based on these conclusions, different funding alternatives are discussed.