Estimating the willingness to pay and the intertemporal discount rate for the protection of the biodiversity in the marine reserve, Choros-damas

In this paper we used a net present value model to jointly estimate the willingness to pay (WTP), and the intertemporal discount rate, for a biodiversity environmental conservation program whose payments are allocated along a time horizon. We applied a contingent valuation survey to capture the economic value associated with the protection of a marine ecosystem in the marine reserve, Choros-Damas in Chile. Respondents faced a scenario with a WTP question with periods of 1, 5, and 10 years. The estimated discount rate is larger than the interest rates found in market transactions but significantly lower than rates found in similar environmental projects.