Estimating the economic value of river restoration

Abstract

One of the major problems causing the accelerating widespread destruction and degradation of the natural environment is the undervaluing of the protection and restoration of environmental resources that takes place in the decision making process. This paper argues that non-market values need to be incorporated in the benefit estimation process to make the concept of sustainability operational under the current market mechanism. It uses the case study of the Buriganga, a vulnerable river in Bangladesh, to demonstrate that a failure to account for such benefits could lead to gross underestimation of the desirability of providing public funding for its restoration.