The Need for Developing Economic Assessment Approaches for Undervalued Natural Resources: Rivers and Wetlands

Proceedings of the 1997 Georgia Water Resources Conference, March 20-22, 1997, Athens, Georgia.Conventional economic assessment techniques have historically undervalued existing natural resources resulting in unwise and deleterious growth management decisions. Degraded water quality, diminution or loss of recreational and commercial fisheries, increased siltation and sediment deposition in rivers and lakes, loss of wildlife habitat, and general aesthetic losses are the consequences of decision making based on incomplete economic analysis. We propose developing additional strategies to appropriately determine economic and societal values inherent in natural river and wetland systems which have historically been over looked. Furthermore, much of the data collection and analysis can be undertaken by citizen organizations dedicated to restoring and protecting the quality of the rivers, wetlands, and other natural resources in their communities..Sponsored and Organized by: U.S. Geological Survey, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, The University of Georgia, Georgia State University, Georgia Institute of TechnologyThis book was published by the Institute of Ecology, The University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602 with partial funding provided by the U.S. Department of Interior, Geological Survey, through the Georgia Water Research Institutes Authorization Act of 1990 (P.L. 101-397). The views and statements advanced in this publication are solely those of the authors and do not represent official views or policies of the University of Georgia or the U.S. Geological Survey or the conference sponsors