Valuing environmental functions; tropical wetlands
Recent studies have suggested that tropical wetland systems - whether inland freshwater systems or coastal, mangrove systems - may have a crucial economics role to play in development. When properly measured, the total economic value of a wetland's ecological functions, its services and its resources may exceed the economic gains of converting the area to an alternative use. The following paper examines the economic valuation of tropical wetland benefits, largely in three parts. First, an overview of these benefits is provided, using the general framework of cost-benefit analysis as the methodological approach to assessing wetland values. This is followed by a more formal analysis of the problem of the trade-offs between conserving tropical wetlands or converting their resources to alternative productive uses. Taking into account the opportunity cost of wetland conversion in terms of foregone wetland benefits leads to a lower level or conversion than would otherwise be the case. Finally, the paper returns to the issue of valuation raised by the formal analysis. Given that many of the direct and indirect uses of wetland resources are non-marketed, estimation of their value may be best approximated through the production function approach. Extensions and limitations of this approach as applied to tropical wetland benefits are discussed
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Texto biblioteca |
| Language: | eng |
| Published: |
London (RU)
1992
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