Valor económico de la fibra de vicuña en la Reserva Nacional Salinas y Aguada Blanca (Arequipa, Perú)

The economic valuation of biological diversity has had a conceptual and methodological breakthrough in the 90s, however, very little has been achieved in its implementation for practical applications and generation of public policies in Arequipa, Peru. Therefore, this study economically assessed the amount of vicuña fiber that can be obtained from the population of vicuñas that inhabit in the Salinas y Aguada Blanca National Reserve (RNSAB). First of all, census was carried out on linear transects of variable width and the population density of vicuñas was calculated. Secondly, information from the Regional Management of Agriculture of Arequipa (GRAG) was collected and it was estimated: average percentage of sheared vicuñas, average weight of fiber that can be obtained in an animal, and average cost of one kilo of fiber. As a result, the population density of vicuñas was 0.038457 individuals/ha in the RNSAB, amount that if was extrapolated to the surface of the Reserve and the information of the GRAG, an economic value of US $ 384,209.60 is obtained by the exploitation of vicuña fiber. This value becomes a benchmark for national accounting and the generation of environmental management instruments for a sustainable use of the natural resource.