PARENT SESSION
OOS 3: Valuation of Ecological Resources: Integration of Ecology and Socio-economics to Inform Environmental Decisions.
Organized by: LA Kapustka, RG Stahl, WR Munns, and RJF Bruins
Monday, August 2, 8:00 AM to 11:30 AM, Meeting Room E 145.
Challenges of considering ecological values in contemporary environmental management -- An overview.
Kapustka, Lawrence*,1, Stahl, Ralph2, 1 ecological planning and toxicology, inc., Corvallis, OR, USA2 DuPont Corporate Remediation Group, Wilmington, DE, USA
ABSTRACT- Risk managers and other environmental decision-makers in the public and private sectors rely on diverse, and not always congruent, sets of information from which they evaluate and choose among management options. Implementing one management option may be very cost effective, but fail to accommodate the needs or desires of some set of stakeholders. Implementing a different option may satisfy the majority of stakeholders, but at the same time may place an unacceptably high burden on an individual, group, or perhaps the public at large. To maximize effectiveness, the decision-making process should be based on sound concepts, tools, and information that readily bring together all of the factors that enter the decision. Neither economics nor cultural and social values have been addressed adequately in efforts aimed at protection and sustainability of ecological resources. Seemingly disparate values, especially those that are readily monetized versus those that have not or cannot be monetized, present intriguing challenges. We will describe recent efforts that have been directed at alleviating the discord that often arises among the economists, ecologists, risk assessors, sociologists, and lawyers as they develop the technical foundations upon which sound environmental decisions can be made. Our presentation will include comments linking the central topics of the remaining papers in this session.
Key words: cultural values, environmental management, economics, ecological values