Valuation and financing of National Parks in South and South East Asia: a meta-analysis

ABSTRACT Protected Areas, the mainstay of biodiversity conservation, are facing an unprecedented threat of being exploited, making their conservation not only crucial but also urgent. As the looming threat does not leave scope for expensive and time-consuming surveys, this paper intends to add to the existing literature and to the cause of biodiversity conservation by undertaking the first ever multinational Meta-Analysis of National Park (NP) valuation studies in South and South East Asia. The relative importance of study-, site-, and socioeconomic characteristics is estimated through a meta-regression and suggestions for redesigning pricing strategies to capture the unrealized consumer surplus are presented. Key results highlight the importance of the place of residence, area of the NP, and GDP per capita in explaining variation in NP value. Furthermore, taking note of the havoc wreaked by the COVID-19 pandemic, the study highlights the need to diversify the funding base for NP management in order to ensure sustainable financing by presenting country-specific examples.