The Environmental Valuation content from our highly regarded Economics & Finance for Environmental Leadership course is now available in a self-paced course format on CSF’s Numbers for Nature Institute. This course is ideal for conservation professionals looking for our unique training on economic tools for valuing ecosystem services who would prefer to learn on their own schedule.
Valuation is an economic tool that can be immediately applied in many conservation contexts. This self-paced course offers the fundamentals of environmental valuation, including when and why to conduct a valuation study, exposure to a range of valuation approaches, and a chance to apply concepts learned through project design.
This course consists of seven chapters, and should take between 12-15 hours to complete:
- Introduction to Valuation
- Economic Values and Valuation
- Production Function and Market Price Valuation Methods
- Cost-Based Methods
- Revealed Preference and Benefits Transfer
- Stated Preference Methods
- Applying Valuation Concepts
After completing all chapters, you should be able to answer the following questions:
- What is environmental valuation and when is it useful?
- How do economists classify ecosystem services and environmental values?
- What are key questions and considerations when doing a valuation study?
- What are the primary methods of valuing the environment and how are they applied in the field?
- What are the strengths and weaknesses of each method?
- How should we approach and frame a valuation study in the most strategic way so that it impacts decision-making and conservation outcomes?
