The use of contingent valuation for evaluating protected areas in the developing world: Economic valuation of Morro do Diabo State Park, Atlantic Rainforest, São Paulo State (Brazil)

A contingent valuation study of buriti ( Mauritia flexuosa L.f.) in the main region of production in Brazil: is environmental conservation a collective responsibility?

“…No statistically significant differences were found between respondents who reported having used buriti (median WTP of R$ 179.02 ± 223.70) and those who reported not having used it (median WTP of R$ 204.00 ± 116.96) (p > 0.05), demonstrating that the lack of use does not influence WTP valuation, a finding also reported by Monteiro et al (2012) in relation to the valuation of Myracrodruon urundeuva in northeastern Brazil. Moreover, it was previously reported that the WTP is related to other variables, such as income, age and educational level (Sattout et al 2007;Adams et al 2008;Morgado et al 2011;Monteiro et al 2012), however, we found no significant correlation between the value of annual willingness to pay or not (No-WTP) and the other variables analyzed (Tab. 1).…”

“…A majority of the respondents (WTP = 93.92%; No-WTP = 93.28%) were in favor of creating permanent preservation areas for the protection of biodiversity in Brazil. Similar perspectives on environmental conservation have been reported for other Brazilian populations, where dissatisfaction with the government's role in environmental preservation, perception of environmental degradation, and support for protected areas were also found (Adams et al 2008;Monteiro et al 2012). This finding may be a reflection of the continuous reporting of pollution and environmental degradation in the media, as well as of the respondents' own environmental circumstances.…”

“…Respondents were asked about their maximum willingness to pay (WTP) per month (in Brazilian reais -R$) for conservation of the species and were informed that the amount would serve as a parameter for the adoption of policies for protecting the species (Adams et al 2008;Monteiro et al 2012). The monetary figures are cited in Brazilian currency, the real (R$), for sake of comparison since the exchange rate with the dollar during the period to which these figures apply fluctuated between R$ 3.5/US$ to around R$ 4.20/US$.…”

“…The results are expressed as the willingness to pay (WTP) for conservation (Sattout et al 2007;Monteiro et al 2012). As examples, visitors to the Morro do Diabo State Park in the state of São Paulo, were willing to make a monthly payment of R$ 0.19 for its conservation (Adams et al 2008). In the Federal District, Morgado et al (2011) reported that visitors to the Águas Claras Multiple Use Ecological Park were willing to contribute R$ 11.59 per month for its recovery and conservation.…”

Compensation Payments for Downsides Generated by Protected Areas

“…Some sophisticated methods have been developed to assess monetary value of conservation parameters [contingent evaluation, willingness-to-pay (WTP), etc. ], and have been tested in the valuation of ecological quality of protected areas (e.g., Morro do Diabo State Park, Brazil; Adams et al 2008). However, there are still constraints associated with their widespread use, constraints that are attributed to methodologies that are not fully understood, poor transparency, a lack of acceptance by researchers and policy makers, and conceptual problems (Redford and Adams 2009).…”