ABSTRACT
This chapter will describe and then assess the usefulness of various methods for the valuation of environmental resources. To count as a valuation method, the approach must aggregate in some fashion across at least 2 indicators of different environmental services. Thus, an index of habitat suitability for a particular species or a species diversity index, while embodying several aspects of ecosystem structure or function, essentially is a descriptive measure of a single ecosystem service, and is not itself a valuation method by our definition. However, an index that is a function of several services, such as primary production and a diversity index, could be a valuation function, since it embodies trade-offs among services, and trade-offs among services is our underlying definition of value, as discussed in this chapter and Chapter 3.
