The economic value of a coastal protected area: an assessment of the Shell Beach Area in Guyana

The economic valuation of ecosystem services (ES) has been widely used for understanding the changes in the stock and flow of an ecosystem. The accepted notion is that as a result of markets failing to realize the benefits gained by society from ecosystems, there is a loss of ecosystem function and resources as they are viewed as free public goods. The Shell Beach area is one of the designated protected areas of Guyana and the only protected coastal zone in the country. It is also considered an ecosystem and biodiversity hotspot. The geographical location of Shell Beach in the Region 1 area of Guyana shows the area vulnerable to coastal erosion and pollution particularly from potential oil spills in the country’s current oil operation. This study intends to estimate the value of the Shell Beach protected area based on what people are willing to pay to avoid a loss in the size of the protected area. The study adopts a discrete choice contingent valuation method which was used to calculate the average willingness to pay to avoid a loss in the Shell Beach area. Based on the data collected, it is estimated that people are willing to pay an average somewhere between US$118.44 – US$346.67 per year to avoid a loss in the Shell Beach area. The results show that people have a relatively high value for the area and would like to see the area protected from destruction.