Socioeconomic and ecological indicators in willingness to accept compensation for the conservation of medicinal plants in a tropical dry forest

The contingent valuation method employs a hypothetical scenario to record a person’s declared preference with regard to their willingness to pay for an environmental asset or willingness to accept (WTA) compensation for not using it. Many studies have evaluated the inclination to conserve watersheds, forest areas, or certain species. In this study, we reported the economical values of medicinal species based on the perceptions of locals living within a protected area in a seasonal dry tropical forest in Northeastern Brazil. Moreover, we assessed the effects of socioeconomic variables (gender, family income, and family size) on the WTA compensation for not using the species. We interviewed 96 household heads from seven communities to obtain their socioeconomic data and WTA values. Additionally, we used data from a plant inventory to gather information on species abundance. We found that the selected socioeconomic variables are a poor predictor of the WTA values. Our findings also demonstrate that women accept lower WTA values to not use some species. Additionally, individuals from bigger families accept lower WTA values to not use just one of the plant species. Species abundance did not influence informants’ WTA values. Generally, informants overestimated bids, which may hinder biodiversity conservation. Socioeconomic and ecological factors may not have an influence on WTA values in communities that inhabit protected areas.