ABSTRACT
What is the value of biodiversity? How much are people willing to pay for it and how is this value determined? These questions continue to be debated by ecologists and economists alike. One measure is the willingness to pay for the conservation of a single species or an ecosystem. Brooklyn Zoo has an interesting example in their gorilla exhibit, which costs US$3 more per person to visit than the normal entrance fee. The visitor is left with the question: is it worth an additional US$3 to see the gorillas? After walking through the exhibit, however, the visitor is invited to decide how to invest this money: which of the five species presented in the exhibit does he or she want to protect? After selecting a species, the visitor is further asked to decide how to spend the funds, with options such as paying for park guards, buying habitat, funding conservation science, or funding development projects for the local communities surrounding the reserve. It's a provocative exhibit and a means of valuing biodiversity. Since the opening of the exhibit in 1999, more than US$1 million have been raised to support the zoo's conservation efforts in Africa.
