Abstract

Managing environment and natural resources is one of the most important inputs for sustainable economic development. In statistics it said that “you cannot manage what you cannot count”. This can be rephrased for environment and natural resources by saying you cannot manage the environment and natural resources unless you value them. Some of the natural resources can be valued in terms of their alternative uses, while others are difficult to be valued. Valuing environment is even more difficult than valuing the natural resources. The objective of this paper is to discuss the methods of valuing environment and natural resources with particular emphasis to the contingent valuation method. Relevant theoretical and empirical literature, methodological issues, and problems of the contingent valuation methods are discussed in detail. Conclusions and recommendations are also made.

Key words: Contingent valuation, willingness to pay, willingness to accept, valuation methods.