ABSTRACT
Conservation and investment both require the reduction of current consumption in order to increase potential availability in the future. In other words, costs are incurred now in order to provide future benefits. Allen, IUCN, O'Riordan, Eagles and many others have advocated that environmental resources should be managed to ensure the long-term sustainable utilization of species and ecosystems, minimize survival risk and generally keep open as many future use options as possible. The major development of cost–benefit as an analytical tool, occurred in response to the burgeoning of expenditure on water resource projects in the United States. The property and land value approach has attracted a massive literature, largely but not exclusively North American in origin. It is based on the simple idea that the value of a property should reflect its intrinsic qualities and its surrounding environment, as perceived by the purchaser, including such intrusive impacts as noise or air pollution.
