Economically valuing nature resources to promote conservation: An empirical application to Chile's national system of protected areas

Abstract

Starting from the framework proposed by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA) - which conceptually links nature's services with human wellbeing - we design and also apply empirically what we have called the total economic value calculating matrix (TEVCM) to estimate the monetary value of the annual flow of benefits provided by Chile's national system of protected areas (NSPA). The calculated economic value of this flow amounts to US$2.55 billion per year. We also analyse the relevance and usefulness of the methodology we propose and use the valuation exercise presented to extract some normative lessons regarding nature conservation in Chile as well as in developing countries rich in natural resource endowments.