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Ecotourism as a Means of Conserving Wetlands

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 April 2015

Carlisle A. Pemberton  and
Kathleen Mader-Charles
Carlisle A. Pemberton
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago
Kathleen Mader-Charles
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago
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Abstract

The Nariva Swamp on the island of Trinidad in the Caribbean is being degraded due to increasing human activity. However, its conservation is desirable, as it is an internationally recognized wetland. The study examined an ecotourism project, with an emphasis on community participation, as a conservation approach to the Swamp, via benefit–cost analysis, where the benefits of conservation were measured by contingent valuation. Contingent valuation showed that the residents of Trinidad were willing to pay an average of $56 for conserving the Swamp. The analysis also showed that ecotourism represents an economically feasible use of ecologically fragile resources of this wetland.

Keywords

benefit–cost analysiscontingent valuation of wetlandsecotourismQ26Q51Q57R14
Type
Invited Paper Sessions
Information
Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics , Volume 37 , Issue 2 , August 2005 , pp. 463 - 474
Copyright
Copyright © Southern Agricultural Economics Association 2005

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