"Comparing willingness to pay for biodiversity conservation across survey modes: evidence from Peru"

Abstract

"Understanding whether stated willingness to pay (WTP) for biodiversity conservation differs across survey modes is important for assessing contingent valuation (CV). This study compares WTP estimates from in-person (IPS) and remote (RS) CV surveys conducted before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Peru. Using samples of adult household financial decision-makers in Metropolitan Lima (2400 IPS respondents in 2019 and 2403 usable RS respondents in 2021), we estimate WTP for conservation in Parque Nacional Yanachaga-Chemillén (PNYCh), incorporating species loss and ecological interaction-network preservation. We found no statistically detectable differences in estimated mean WTP between the IPS and RS samples. Because survey mode and survey year cannot be separately identified, this finding should not be interpreted as evidence of a causal survey-mode effect or formal equivalence. The study therefore assesses whether a closely harmonized remote CV implementation can reproduce aggregate valuation patterns obtained from an in-person survey in a megadiverse developing-country setting. Income was positively associated with bid acceptance in both samples, and acceptance increased across income quartiles. WTP also increased with ecological interaction preservation, whereas no comparable ordering emerged across species-loss scenarios. Overall, remote administration recovered broadly similar aggregate valuation patterns while ecological functionality provided information beyond species counts. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V. 2026."