National Academies Press: OpenBook
« Previous: 7: Broadening the Biodiversity Manager's Perspective
Suggested Citation:"A: Statement of Task." National Research Council. 1999. Perspectives on Biodiversity: Valuing Its Role in an Everchanging World. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9589.
×

A
Statement of Task

The committee will perform a study to examine how current scientific knowledge about the economic and noneconomic value of biodiversity can best be applied to the management of biological resources. The committee will include the following areas of expertise: the biodiversity sciences (ecology, population biology, conservation biology, and systematics), resource management, economics, sociology, and philosophy). The report of the committee will

  • Review the current state of scientific knowledge about the noneconomic and economic values and benefits of biodiversity, including the relative utility of economic cost-benefit analyses and noneconomic approaches; included in the review should be a characterization of the various kinds, aspects, and dimensions of value and benefits that need to be taken into account by managers and decision-makers, an evaluation of the tools available to assess them, and an examination of the ways in which such assessments are currently used in helping to make decisions about the management of biological resources.
  • Examine, with the aid of case studies involving Department of Defense and other lands as appropriate, how this knowledge can be synthesized and applied to protection, use, and management of ecosystems and biodiversity—especially, taking into account that much of the value may be noneconomic in nature, how the various aspects of value can and should be weighed in making management decisions, and the limits to such comparisons.
  • Identify weaknesses in the current understanding of economic and noneconomic value and limits to its utility as it relates to management of biodiversity, questions that must be addressed to enhance its utility for managers, and research and development needed to address the needs identified.
Suggested Citation:"A: Statement of Task." National Research Council. 1999. Perspectives on Biodiversity: Valuing Its Role in an Everchanging World. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9589.
×
  • Based on current knowledge and taking into account risks and uncertainties, make recommendations on how managers can improve how they use information about the value of biodiversity in the process of developing, implementing, and evaluating management plans.

Related questions that the committee may usefully address include: How can managers use knowledge about the value of biodiversity to help guide them in determining the most appropriate level of protection for an area (e.g., preservation versus conservation)? To what degree are different kinds of value affected by different levels and kinds of use? How should managers weigh the degree to which current actions that affect the biodiversity of an area might influence future value and costs—e.g., is current heavy use of an area for training likely to result in serious degradation of ecosystem services, cultural or aesthetic value, or potential for biodiversity prospecting in the future?

Suggested Citation:"A: Statement of Task." National Research Council. 1999. Perspectives on Biodiversity: Valuing Its Role in an Everchanging World. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9589.
×
Page 145
Suggested Citation:"A: Statement of Task." National Research Council. 1999. Perspectives on Biodiversity: Valuing Its Role in an Everchanging World. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9589.
×
Page 146
Next: B: Biographical Sketches »
Perspectives on Biodiversity: Valuing Its Role in an Everchanging World Get This Book
×
Buy Paperback | $53.00
MyNAP members save 10% online.
Login or Register to save!
Download Free PDF

Resource-management decisions, especially in the area of protecting and maintaining biodiversity, are usually incremental, limited in time by the ability to forecast conditions and human needs, and the result of tradeoffs between conservation and other management goals. The individual decisions may not have a major effect but can have a cumulative major effect.

Perspectives on Biodiversity reviews current understanding of the value of biodiversity and the methods that are useful in assessing that value in particular circumstances. It recommends and details a list of components—including diversity of species, genetic variability within and among species, distribution of species across the ecosystem, the aesthetic satisfaction derived from diversity, and the duty to preserve and protect biodiversity.

The book also recommends that more information about the role of biodiversity in sustaining natural resources be gathered and summarized in ways useful to managers. Acknowledging that decisions about biodiversity are necessarily qualitative and change over time because of the nonmarket nature of so many of the values, the committee recommends periodic reviews of management decisions.

  1. ×

    Welcome to OpenBook!

    You're looking at OpenBook, NAP.edu's online reading room since 1999. Based on feedback from you, our users, we've made some improvements that make it easier than ever to read thousands of publications on our website.

    Do you want to take a quick tour of the OpenBook's features?

    No Thanks Take a Tour »
  2. ×

    Show this book's table of contents, where you can jump to any chapter by name.

    « Back Next »
  3. ×

    ...or use these buttons to go back to the previous chapter or skip to the next one.

    « Back Next »
  4. ×

    Jump up to the previous page or down to the next one. Also, you can type in a page number and press Enter to go directly to that page in the book.

    « Back Next »
  5. ×

    Switch between the Original Pages, where you can read the report as it appeared in print, and Text Pages for the web version, where you can highlight and search the text.

    « Back Next »
  6. ×

    To search the entire text of this book, type in your search term here and press Enter.

    « Back Next »
  7. ×

    Share a link to this book page on your preferred social network or via email.

    « Back Next »
  8. ×

    View our suggested citation for this chapter.

    « Back Next »
  9. ×

    Ready to take your reading offline? Click here to buy this book in print or download it as a free PDF, if available.

    « Back Next »
Stay Connected!