Environmental damage is adverse changes to the characteristics of the environment.
The economic valuation of environmental damage involves identifying, collecting and analyzing data and estimating values.
The preservation of the environment and socioeconomic balance are the objectives of the assessment of environmental damage.
Environmental damage analyses involve specialized and multidisciplinary teams to identify and quantify the damage that can be tangible and intangible.
The repair of environmental damage prioritizes the restoration or recovery of the damage and if this is not possible, then compensation or equivalence for the damage and finally pricing.
Environmental damage can be reversible or irreversible and partial or total and can cover the individual or the collective.
Civil liability for environmental damage does not aim at environmental compensation, but at the prevention of damage to avoid future damage.
Nature’s resilience aids in the natural regeneration of the ecosystem, but assisted and active regeneration may be necessary to recover from the damage.
The recovery period is also estimated and affects the assessment of the damage.
The awareness of the finiteness of natural resources and the balance of the environment are the purposes of this work.
The value of environmental damage is estimated by adding up its impact on the environment:
- Value of Tangible Assets: wood, soil, vegetation, etc… ;
- Value of Intangible Assets: social, cultural, altruistic, religious, moral, artistic, affective, etc…;
- Potential Value: potential for future discoveries in all areas (biology, technology, etc…);
- Risk Value: extinction of species, ecological imbalance, health risk, etc… .
Estimates of these values depend on current analyses and projections based on available data and assumptions about the future.
The final value must represent the difference between the situation with damage and the natural situation of the environment, without the damage.
Mynarski International
Environmental Damage Valuations