VALUATION OF NONPRICED AMENITIES PROVIDED BY THE BIOLOGICAL RESOURCES WITHIN THE MONTEVERDE-CLOUD-FOREST-PRESERVE, COSTA-RICA

To quantify the economic benefits of the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve and to test the contingent valuation method in a third world setting, a contingent valuation survey was designed with five experimental treatments. These determined an overall expected value per visitor; determined and compared two ways of eliciting value, single versus annual lump-sum payments; and compared average values of Costa Rican versus non-Costa Rican visitors. Visitors were willing to pay to prevent the Preserve's conversion to agricultural uses. Monteverde's value as a cloud forest preserve appears much higher than any value it might have in agricultural use. Despite lower incomes, Costa Rican visitors valued the Preserve more highly than non-Costa Rican visitors. Visitors may have differentiated only weakly between greatly differing bid amounts. Expected values derived from econometric analysis of the differing experimental treatments suggest that further methodological adaptation of the contingent valuation method may be required (1) when it is applied in third world settings, and (2) when precision is critical in estimating WTPs.