The gap between science and policy: Assessing the use of nonmarket valuation in estuarine management based on a case study of US federally managed estuaries

Abstract

Estuaries are among the most productive natural systems on earth, providing an array of human welfare benefits, if well managed. Non-market valuation (NMV) can be a powerful tool that can inform policies for better estuarine management. More than 30 years of research valuing estuaries around the world does not appear to have had a major impact on estuarine management if one uses the literature as evidence. Published examples of policy applications using estimates from these studies, are rare, leading to the question whether the effort and money spent on this research has been useful and worth the cost.In addition to raising public awareness of the importance of estuaries, NMV should play a wider and more influential role in estuarine management. Our research went beyond the literature to the sources, and attempted to find out if there were a gap between economic studies and their use in policy decisions by surveying the managers of US federally managed estuaries. We identified the gap, addressed the size of the gap, and sought to elicit some possible reasons for it. Our research also identified some of the underlying causes why these values are not used more in the decision making process, at least in the case of US-managed estuaries.In this paper, we review current literature, and report on a survey of key personnel from two US agencies--the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), that oversee estuaries and sanctuaries, and we summarize their observations regarding why they do or don't use NMV studies. On the basis of this, some problems with NMV studies that hinder their uses in practice are presented, as well as solutions to close the gap.