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Biodiversity and Economics

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Global Biodiversity

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Abstract

A growing literature in applied economics is demonstrating that techniques are available for obtaining concrete estimates of the value of many different facets of the environment, including the more intangible aspects of environmental quality, such as clean water, clean air and better views. These methods can be applied to biodiversity, but are subject to major limitations and problems of interpretation. One of the major difficulties is that they are based on the premise that value is determined by human willingness to pay. The range of human values can be very broad and consequently difficult to measure: many people are willing to pay for qualities that are seemingly unselfish, by placing, for example, an ‘existence value’ on certain natural resources that they will never personally see or experience.

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Authors
  1. Brian Groombridge
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Groombridge, B. (1992). Biodiversity and Economics. In: Groombridge, B. (eds) Global Biodiversity. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-2282-5_27

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-2282-5_27

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