ABSTRACT
Environmental evaluation is still a controversial question because its theoretical and empirical outcomes do not yet allow generally valid results. Therefore they need to be put into practice cautiously. Moreover, when environmental evaluation is used as a decision-aid within public decision processes, its intrinsic limitations are magnified by its multifunctional task.
This chapter is subdivided into two sections. The first concerns evaluation as a technical-scientific procedure and points out the most controversial conceptual problems. The second deals with the role of evaluation in the public decision process related to regulation of actions which affect the environment. The conclusions are that environmental evaluation cannot be considered either generally valid or fully representative of all interests and that there is a need for more efficient organisation in the scientific field.
