Economic valuation for the socio-environmental protection of the vaquita porpoise, an endemic species

Abstract

The impact of irrational human practices on the environment makes it indispensable to implement measures, such as the Upper Gulf of California and Colorado River Delta Biosphere Reserve, in order to preserve the natural environment and habitats, and thus to promote biological diversity. The aim of this paper was to determine the local economic support through valuation of the vaquita porpoise, an endangered endemic species that lives in the reserve, as well as to disseminate the analytic network process, a valuation methodology little used in the environmental issue and which appropriately integrates interrelations into a systemic scheme. The result showed that for the purpose of giving protection to the species, resources additional to the little more than two million seven hundred and fifty thousand American dollars a year, which is the vaquita porpoise’s value, are needed. In carrying out this study, more comprehensive data concerning productive activities in the area, socio-economic implications of fishing and its impact on biological diversity were not available. This paper’s originality and value lie in the methodology used and the interrelation it offers for analysis.