Valuation, the process of placing monetary values on environmental impacts, is an essential element in incorporating the benefits of costs of environmental effects into the analysis of alternatives. In this way, the wider array of benefits and costs associated witha a project can be considered in deciding which alternative produces tha largest net benefit to society. Although valuation is often needed because market prices do not exist or are difficult to measure, recent advances have greatly increased the range of environmental impacts that can be monetized. This section presents several key resources on environmental valuation including examples of the valuation of environmental degradation, health impacts, land, ecosystems and biodiversity, and cultural heritage. | Cost of Environmental Degradation Studies | These series of studies measure the lost welfare of a nation due to environmental degradation. Such a loss may inlcude loss of healthy life and well-being (premature death, absence of clean environment), economic losses (reduced soil productivity), loss of environmental opportunities (reduced recreational value for beaches, forests). | | Cost of Environmental Degradation: The Case of Lebanon and Tunisia, 2004 | |
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