Parks and protected areas are valuableassets to developing nations, whether viewed asenvironmental, economic or social goods. Nevertheless, todate there are few examples where the full potentialeconomic rent of protected areas has been capturedefficiently or distributed effectively. This severely limitsthe capacity of developing nations to sustain their naturalresources. In Sub-Saharan Africa the crisis is acute,characterized by the rapid pace of deforestration, soilerosion, destruction of flora and fauna, and the depletionof water supplies. Many African nations have completednational environmental assessments that call for anexpansion and diversification of protected areas. Severalareas have been designated as protected areas- nationalparks, game preserves, wildlife management areas all withdifferent levels of restrictions on their use by members oflocal communities. The methods of valuation used todetermine appropriate levels of compensation for localcommunities and for cost recovery through users' feesto make natural resource management sustainable requiresinnovative approaches to valuing stakeholder opportunitycosts, recreational demand, and existence value. TheContingent Valuation (CV) method is one way of determininglevels of willingness-to-pay of visitors to protected areasand willingness to accept compensation by local residents.Once appropriate valuation techniques have been used, thekey is to determine a viable benefit sharing scheme forshareholders to share rents and compensate local residentsfor foregone access to those natural resources found in theprotected area.
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