Author Phillips, A. (ed)

Year of publication 1998

The debate over environmental protection is often about the balance between leaving areas in their natural or near-natural state, and developing and exploiting them. This choice is fraught with tension – for example should a forest be left uncleared, or logged and converted to agriculture? Should wetlands and mangroves be left in their natural state or cleared and developed? These Guidelines are intended to help answer such questions. Part I gives an overview of how the economic values of protected areas can be assessed, provide new insights and inform the debate. The case studies in Part II identify those sites where protecting the environment has made a significant contribution to the economy – increasing national wealth, national incomes and levels of national economic output. Public policy has a broad focus on the welfare of the community, and much work has been done by economists systematising the evaluation of welfare benefits from protected areas. The current political process largely focuses, however, on the economy and monetary returns. It is hoped that the awareness developed through these Guidelines can help to place environmental protection issues nearer the centre of the economic policy argument. The Guidelines reveal that protected areas are often significant revenue-earning entities and can make an important contribution to local economies