EVALUATING THE ENVIRONMENTALLY SENSITIVE AREAS - THE VALUE OF RURAL ENVIRONMENTS AND POLICY RELEVANCE

Environmentally Sensitive Areas (ESAs) have come to take a central pla ce in agri-environmental policy. An important evaluation of the scheme has sought to estimate the value of two ESAs using the contingent val uation method. This paper assesses this evaluation and argues that in practice the method failed to establish a clear and realistic descript ion of the likely outcome of the policy. In a number of respects, the evaluation assumes that the policy will be successful prior to the ana lysis. These concerns are supported by the evidence available from mon itoring studies. In consequence the evaluation is of limited use for t he purposes of policy decision-making. There is a need to define the l ikely outcomes of policy more realistically, recognising the inevitabl e uncertainty, and to investigate the values of conservation at the ma rgin in order to make such evaluations more relevant to policy develop ment. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.