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Chapter1	Chapter2	Chapter3	Chapter4	Chapter5	Chapter6	Ana Sayfa

THE POTENTIAL

When faced with a decision on the use of an environmental resource, the decision maker needs to place a value on the gains or losses associated with each option. In this way, the alternative uses can be assessed on a comparable basis. The purpose of this final chapter is to review the status of the techniques and suggest some further steps in valuation.

The valuation methods described in Chapters 3, 4 and 5 demonstrated that:

there are many techniques which can be used
many of the techniques have been applied in Australia over a number of years
many different types of environmental effects have been given a monetary value.

Some techniques have been regularly used for many years. For example, the change-in-productivity and property-value methods have long been used to value the unpriced effects of agricultural use of the land. The property-value method is used routinely to work out the cost of noise in the assessment of highway projects in New South Wales.

This substantial record, together with the constant need for economic information and the theoretical and market validity of the techniques, suggests that there is great potential for further applications. The examples have demonstrated that these techniques advance the sustainable use of resources and conservation of the environment.