Value of Whale Shark Conservation
Attributes
Medium: Animals, Plants and/or Others
Country: Philippines
Analytical Framework(s): Contingent Valuation
Unit(s): Mean WTP
Study Date: 2005
Publication Date: 2007
Major Result(s)
| Category | Resource/Environmental Good | PHP, per household per month (2005) |
PHP, per household per month (2014)1 |
USD, per household per month (2014)2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Non-parametric, uncensored | WTP to conserve whale sharks | 18.00 | 25.53 | 0.57 |
| Non-parametric, adjusted to protest | WTP to conserve whale sharks | 35.00 | 49.65 | 1.11 |
| Non-parametric, adjusted to certainty | WTP to conserve whale sharks | 17.00 | 24.11 | 0.54 |
About the Inflation Adjustment: Prices in Philippines (PHP) changed by 41.85% from 2005 to 2014 (aggregated from annual CPI data), so the study values were multiplied by 1.42 to express them in 2014 prices. The study values could be expressed in any desired year (for example, to 2025) by following the same inflation calculation and being sensitive to directional (forward/backward) aggregations using your own CPI/inflation data.
Study Note: It was noted that even after an elaborate preparation, implementation, and analysis of contingent valuation data, results show zero or close to zero welfare values.
Study Details
Summary: Societies continually make choices among various options that affect their welfare. Tradeoffs are typically difficult to make especially in a developing country context where even the basic needs are sometimes hard to finance. It then becomes an empirical question whether people from a developing country perceive any benefit from what can be considered as a non-essential good like the preservation of certain endangered species and would therefore be willing to sacrifice certain things for it. Using contingent valuation methodology (CVM), this paper sets out to determine if such benefit for whale shark preservation exists for developing country citizens, or if they are too poor to pay for conservation.
Site Characteristics: The study was carried out in Sorsogon province where whale sharks, the world's largest fish, are popularly known; the area is touted worldwide as having the largest congregation of the species during peak season. The whale shark has a migratory nature, making it vulnerable to a wide range of threats, hence requiring collaboration of various nations for its protection.
Comments: The research did various multivariate logit regression analyses to generate sensitivity analysis of the estimates prior to the welfare value calculation. Sensitivity to payment designs was also tested through hypothesis testing.