Valuation, Data and Methods

Nature is important to the economic well-being of a society. But how much are natural resources and ecosystem goods and services worth? Since RFF’s earliest days, our experts have been developing data and tools to measure public environmental wealth as clearly and systematically as market wealth.

Some of our current activities include the following:

• Developing state-of-the-art ecological value assessment tools and data to improve cost benefit analyses of water projects, markets, and regulation.

• Conducting nonmarket valuation studies to compare the public’s preferences for ecological goods relative to conventional consumer goods.

• Leading a two-year study to explore the role of "green infrastructure" as a buffer against climate-induced increases in flooding. Learn more about this project here.