This Section includes:
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Focus This section provides insights into how to value an environmental asset, such as a wetland or forested buffer, or a conservation practice, such as a proposed wetland restoration or reforestation project, in terms of their relative value. The question that was the focus of the previous section dealing with absolute measures of value was: What is the dollar value of X or Y? The question that is the focus in this section is: Is the value of X greater or less than the value of Y? Showing
that the environmental benefits from spending on one project are greater
than the benefits of spending on another project is much easier than estimating
the dollar benefits of either project. It is easier to justify that
spending is being managed to “maximize environmental benefits”
per dollar spent than to justify any particular level of dollar spending. Caveats
This section is a "work in progress." It provides guidance about developing practical and defensible indicators of relative ecosystem value that can be used to compare environmental conservation alternatives. However, it doe not provide definitive sets of indicators that can be used for this purpose. The
section has two parts: The first describes the steps required to develop
indicators and provides illustrations of situations where they can be
used to improve conservation management. The second provides background
information and examines concepts and tools that will be useful for designing
indicator systems. Each part will be interesting to a different
audience. Those interested in understanding the focus of value-based
indicators and how they can be put into practice may only wish to browse
Part 1. Those interested in the more abstract and technical aspects
of developing value-based indicators may wish to dig further by browsing
Part 2. Both parts will be expanded and imroved as resources become available.
Format Part
1 Indicator
Development Basics
Part 2 Concepts, Definitions and Food for Thought
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