Conservation value of a forest in the southeast of the Peruvian Amazon: The case of Madre de Dios

The forests of the Amazon in Madre de Dios (Peru) have been deforested. Deforestation is driven by urban population growth, agriculture, goldmining, infrastructure development, and the lack of urban and territorial planning. Forest loss has many negative social consequences, such as immigration and persistent poverty. The study analyzes the conservation value of a pristine high terrace forest, located in the southeast of the Peruvian Amazon. This area supports the pressure of threats of deforestation and increased land invasion since the conditioning of the road corridor built by the Initiative for the Integration of the South American Regional Infrastructure (IIRSA). For this, the contingent valuation method (CVN) was proposed through the dichotomous logit model to define the willingness to pay (WTP) of the respondents on proposed prices of a hypothetical scenario conserve the forest as a strategy to strengthen their capacities in the education of professionals, the population, and the investigation like a driver in the generation of the knowledge. The result shows that the average WTP to implement the conservation program was S/ 17.49 (USD 5.16) as a single payment per year. This value presents a highly significant relationship with the variables: education, the importance of the existence of the forest, environmental knowledge, and income, in the econometric model to accept the proposal. Finally, the forest is important in itself for the population, and they show a positive disposition for its conservation.