Economic valuation of use and non-use values of environmental goods and services in developing countries

Abstract

Most of the methodologies for placing economic values on the environment have been developed in the context of developed countries, where high levels of disposable income allow for a high demand for environmental amenities and a willingness to pay for non-use values. Their applicability may be limited in developing countries. A micro-economic model, designed to highlight the different roles of environmental goods and services in developed and developing countries, is presented In developing countries the values of environmental amenities are relatively less important than those of environ-mental resources in the production process. The use of the procedures to estimate the value of environmental services in production should be respected, promoted, and refined, particularly in the light of widespread market failure in developing countries.