Task Force Leader

Mr Nicholas CONNER
C/- Department of Environment and Conservation
PO Box A290
Sydney South
NSW 1232
Australia
Tel: ++61 (2) 9995 6053
Email nicholas.conner@environment.nsw.gov.au

Objectives

The economic valuation task force was established in 2006 with the following objectives:

• Advocacy: to promote the concept of valuation of the socio-economic benefits of protected areas and integration of such values in ongoing assessments of the benefits of protected areas among the IUCN community, conservation agencies and decision makers generally.  Where resources are available, to provide advice and assistance to such agencies to assist them in carrying out valuations themselves.
  
  
• Information provision: to act as an information centre providing information and advice to WCPA task forces, and other commissions and working groups about the application of valuation of PAs and biodiversity conservation.


• Linking IUCN economic projects and Commission members: to act as a link between IUCN staff carrying out programmes which involve economic valuation and the WCPA and other IUCN commission members, who may be able to apply the information and knowledge gained from the IUCN programme to their own circumstances.


• Capacity building: where possible, to assist in building economic valuation skills and abilities in valuing protected area benefits among appropriate staff in conservation and natural resource management agencies.

Membership

The task force currently has members from a number of WCPA regions, with expertise in a wide range of socio-economic issues relating to protected area planning and management.  Members’ interests include equity issues relating to distribution of the costs and benefits of protected areas and conservation, sustainable natural resource use, biodiversity conservation and livelihoods, tourism and protected areas, socio-economic and cultural values of protected areas, impacts of protected areas on regional economies, and valuation of coastal and marine ecosystem services.
As the task force membership grows, we hope to establish regional networks under the overall coordination of the task force.  Possible areas for regional networks in the near future include Oceania and East Africa.

Centre for Environmental Economics in Africa (CEEPA)
c/- Prof Rashid M Hassan, Director
www.ceepa.co.za

Some useful valuation databases and information sources are:

Naturevaluation Network
http://topshare.wur.nl/naturevaluation

Environmental Valuation Reference Inventory (EVRI)
http://www.evri.ca

ValuAsia
http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-8767-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html


Publications and references

Information on publications and references on a range of topics will be added as the website develops. Possible topics include:

• Valuing ecosystem services
• Equity issues
• Market-based instruments for biodiversity conservation
• Socio-economic costs of Invasive species
• Integrated economic-ecological decision-support models
• Protected Areas and local and regional economies

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DISCLAIMER
The contents of this webpage do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of WCPA, IUCN or the contributory organisations.  The designations employed and the presentations do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of IUCN or contributory organizations.