Paracas National Reserve in Peru is home to several species of sea lions, otters, vast anchovetta schools, blue-footed boobies, Inca terns, pink flamingos, pelicans, dolphins and large stocks of scallops. The large reserve has been bolstered in recent years by a volunteer park ranger program, which brings in students to maintain the protected area, clean the beaches and provide outreach to nearby communities. Despite its many contributions, funding for this program is constantly in doubt. Course graduate Cecilia Rivas, of the Peruvian Grupo de Estudios Ambientales (GEA), used skills she learned from CSF to perform a cost-benefit analysis and quantitatively show that the $8000 annual investment in the volunteers produces more than $32,000 in benefits. The benefits are a combination of services to the protected area and education for the volunteers.

Now CSF is also providing GEA-Peru with technical assistance to study the costs and benefits of moving fishmeal factories – and their associated pollution – away from the Paracas Reserve. Though relocation is considered a difficult proposition for political reasons, the GEA study will be an objective contribution to the debate over the factories impacts and will hopefully open discussion of a full set of policy options for solving the problem.

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Analisis beneficio-costo del X Programa de Guardaparques Voluntarios (2000) de la Reserva Nacional de Paracas