Economic Valuation for a better Conservation: A Case Study of Kaziranga National Park, India

Raju Mandal, Subrata Barman and M. P. Bezbaruah ()
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Subrata Barman: Department of Economics, Nalbari College
M. P. Bezbaruah: Department of Economics, Gauhati University

No 1410, Working Papers from Sam Houston State University, Department of Economics and International Business

Abstract: This paper makes an attempt to estimate the public and non-public good component values of Kaziranga National Park (KNP), a World Heritage Site in the northeast part of India, using contingent valuation method and individual travel cost method respectively. Such a decomposition of total value of an environmental amenity into public good and non-public good components can have significant implications for conservation policies. The results of our analysis led us to conclude that the conservation efforts in terms of resource allocation for KNP are by no means excessive as it amounted to only 3.52 % of total willingness to pay that was estimated in a very conservative way. The estimated consumers’ surplus, a proxy for use values of the park, turned out to be 8.86 % of estimated total economic values, and we suggest a same share of conservation outlay be recovered from the users. A relatively smaller proportion of current user charges in total conservation expenditure (5.87 %) provide a justification for an upward revision of the user charges for a better and more effective conservation in view of the ongoing deterioration of the heritage site from various sources.

Date: 2014-09
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