Economic value of conservation. The case of the edible sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus

This paper presents a goods and services approach to determine the economic value of Paracentrotus lividus with the aim of clarifying the role of valuation in the management and conservation of marine biodiversity. More specifically, it uses the Contingent Valuation Method to estimate the existence value of the sea urchin population that is predicted to be lost in the future if we do not take any measure today to protect them. According to the results a great number of respondents were willing to pay for the conservation of P. lividus population. Moreover, individual characteristics have distinctively different effects for explaining responders behaviour against their conservation. The empirical results from the proposed models link individuals opinion about eco-nomic value of biodiversity with people total willingness to pay (WTP). The results would help the choice of management strategies for P. lividus conservation and can help design incentive schemes to make conservation policy both effective and efficient.