Estimating Values at General and Case Study Levels

The core focus for this research project is to assess values for a major iconic natural resource asset while developing key methodological improvements to the application of non-market valuation techniques. The iconic site that has been selected for assessment is the Great Barrier
Reef in Queensland, while three key areas of methodology have been identified for close attention.

The first of these is dealing with the scale issue, where broad community values for natural assets often need to be apportioned down to particular case study levels to be useful to
policy makers. The second is dealing with issues of risk and uncertainty, where values for environmental improvements might be affected by uncertainty over issues such as climate change and policy outcomes. The third include a range of design and presentation issues for stated preference surveys, where the goal is to identify practices that do not unduly affect the value estimation process. It is planned to test these different issues across a range of non-market valuation applications, including field applications and experimental work with focus groups and students

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