Demystifying Economic Valuation: Valuing Nature Paper | June 2016

This new 12 page paper covers the main issues, questions and principles surrounding economic valuation and is designed as an overview for those new to economic valuation. The paper brings together input from 120 volunteers from the economic valuation community. The editors are Ece Ozdemiroglu and Rosie Hails from the Valuing Nature Programme Coordination Team. Find out more about the process of developing the paper here.

The paper provides a summary of agreed principles to help communication with other Valuing Nature research disciplines and users of economic value evidence. The paper covers the following topics:

  • Why economic valuation?
  • What is economic valuation?
  • How do we estimate economic value?
  • Whose values count?
  • How do we use economic values in decision making?
  • But economic values vary! And so they should!
  • How to communicate economic value evidence.