Valuing the Environment in Small Islands

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Money speaks louder than words. Putting a monetary value on environmental and social impacts usually increases the chance of these impacts being taken into account in decision making. This toolkit provides clear guidance on how the value of the environment in small islands can be estimated and incorporated into planning and development decisions. It explains why you would undertake a study, who should be involved, how to implement the study and how to use the results. It also contains guidance on how to hire external consultants if expertise is not available in-house. It has been designed primarily for government officials and NGOs, although it is also useful for others wanting to estimate the value of ecosystems and ecosystem services.

This toolkit is part of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee's `Environmental Economics with the Overseas Territories in the Caribbean' (EEWOC) project. The project aims to build capacity in UK Overseas Territories in the Caribbean in using economic tools to help make policies and decisions more sustainable. The development of this toolkit was jointly funded by the Overseas Territories Environment Programme (OTEP) and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC). OTEP is a joint programme of the UK Government Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development to support the implementation of the Environment Charters and environmental management more generally in the UK Overseas Territories. JNCC is the statutory adviser to the UK Government on UK and international nature conservation, including in the UK Overseas Territories.