Environmental damage schedules: community judgments of importance and assessments of losses
Ratana Chuenpagdee; Knetsch, J.L.; Brown, T.C.
Land Economics 77(1): 1-11
2001
ISSN/ISBN: 0023-7639 DOI: 10.2307/3146976Document Number: 246760
The article examines the efficacy of environmental damage schedules (a method of valuing environmental changes based on predetermined fixed schedules of sanctions, restrictions, damage awards, and other allocative guides and incentives). Sections outline : the advantages and limitations of the use of damage schedules, especially compared to current practices; the use of paired comparison methods as a means of assessing community preferences on which damage schedules might be based; and the results of a case study in which scales of the importance of coastal resource losses (partial and severe damage to sandy beaches, severe damage to mangrove forests, clear-cutting of mangrove forests, partial and severe damage to sea grass beds, and partial and severe damage to coral reefs) in Phangnga Bay, Thailand were elicited by this method. It is concluded that the efficacy of a damage schedule scheme is to a large extent dependent on the assessment of community preferences with respect to changes in environmental and resource values. The use of damage schedules based on people's judgements of the relative importance of environmental changes is unlikely to lead to optimal deterrence and maximum efficiency in the allocation of environmental resources.