Environmental damage schedules: Community judgments of importance and assessments of losses

Available methods of valuing environmental changes are often limited in the ir applicability to current issues such as damage assessment and implementi ng regulatory controls, or may otherwise not provide reliable readings of c ommunity, preferences. An alternative is to base decisions on predetermined fixed schedules of sanctions, restrictions. damage awards, and other alloc ative guides and incentives. which are based on community judgments of the relative importance of different environmental resources and particular cha nges in their availability and quality. Such schedules can offer advantages of cost savings and consistency over current methods. as demonstrated in t he case of Thailand coastal resources.