The study largely draws from the preference elicitation of the people living in and around the Periyar Tiger Reserve (PTR) in the Western Ghat Regions of Kerala State, using a contingent evaluation questionnaire. We found that there is a higher probability to materialise people’s participation in the protected area management for biodiversity conservation. From the findings of this study, it is important to say that the immediate needs of forest protection can be expected only from tribes with considerable source of income and lower caste migrants. Moreover, the economic value of people’s preference towards biodiversity conservation, which we arrived at through a contingent valuation survey, is important as far as the sustainability of the existing eco-development committees are concerned even after the completion of the donor agencies funding on eco-develoment projects.