The importance of biodiversity valuation is widely understood in academia and is increasingly used in policy making and other fora. For example, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), through the Conference of the Parties (COP), recognises that "economic valuation of biodiversity and biological resources is an important tool for well-targeted and calibrated economic incentive measures". Further, it encourages the Parties to "take into account economic, social, cultural and ethical valuation in the development of relevant incentive measures" (CBD COP Decision IV/10). Biodiversity valuation should be an integral part of environmental economic policy, providing information to policy makers in their quest to identify priorities and equate trade-offs. As part of its effort to support governments in using valuation methods to assess the value of biological diversity, the OECD commissioned this series of case studies. They cover the state of the art on economic valuation and on the interface between economic and ecological valuation.

PART 1
Chapter 1. Rationale, Summary, and Conclusions by Dan Biller and Rosalind Bark
Chapter 2. Valuing Biological Diversity: Issues and Overview by David Pearce
Chapter 3. Local Costs, Global Benefits: Valuing Biodiversity in Developing Countries by John A. Dixon and Stefano Pagiola
PART 2
Chapter 4. Comparing Valuation Exercises in Europe and the United States: Challenges for Benefit Transfer and Some Policy Implications by Stale Navrud
Chapter 5. Evaluating Multidimensional Biodiversity Policy: What Can We Learn From Contingent Valuation Studies of Biological Resources in the Context of Rural Amenities? by Jose Manuel Lima E Santos
PART 3
Chapter 6. Stated Preference Approaches to the Measurement of the Value of Biodiversity by James R. Kahn, Robert O'Neill, and Steven Stewart
Chapter 7. Assesing the Economic Value of Biodiversity Using Indicators of Site Conditions and Landscape Context by Dennis M. King and Lisa A. Wainger
PART 4
Chapter 8. Integration of Economic and Ecological Indicators of Biodiversity by Paulo A.L.D. Nunes, Jeroen C. J. M. Van Den Bergh, Peter Nijkamp
Biographies