Ecological engineering: First steps towards economic analysis

Ecosystems fulfill a large number of ecological and economic functions. Increasing economic activity and population pressure are threatening the quality of ecosystems, and strengthen the need for ecological engineering. In this article some of the economic aspects of ecological engineering are discussed. In particular, the various methods to establish the economic costs and benefits of ecological engineering. For benefit estimation various methods are developed, including the contingent valuation method, the hedonic pricing method, the travel cost method and the shadow project method. The economic background, and the applicability and appropriateness of these methods are discussed. Next, the results of several studies on wetland valuation are shortly presented. It is concluded that the full socio-economic assessment of ecological engineering is still to be developed, and that further cooperation between ecologists and economists is required to make progress in this field that is rapidly gaining importance in policy making, both at the European and the global level.