Valuing wetlands

摘要

PUTTING an economic value on the environment has never been an easy process and wetlands are no exception. While it is relatively easy to put a dollar value on increased agricultural production, there have been problems when policy makers have attempted to put a value on aspects of a wetland such as bird nesting sites and biodiversity. But a new study based at the University of New South Wales is set to take the guess work out of putting a value on wetlands in the future. Funded by LWRRDC, ProfessorJeff Bennett is heading a team of researchers from the University of New South Wales, Australian National University, Sydney University, Central Queensland University and state governments in a project to develop a practical, accurate, reliable way of estimating the value of protecting wetlands.