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4.3
INTEGRATING ECOSYSTEM AND BIODIVERSITY VALUES INTO POLICY ASSESSMENT
INTEGrATING EcoNoMIc ThINKING
INTo PoLIcy AssEssMENT
The role of all policy assessments 3 – including costbenefit
analysis – is to organise information in such a
way that decision-makers can consider trade-offs and
take better informed decisions. valuation is an input
to decision-making, but does not by itself provide the
decision. It has a particular role for biodiversity, as
the provision of ecosystem services is currently often
not factored into decisions affecting ecosystems.
The policy assessment techniques described in this
chapter are feasible, practical and road-tested ways
to correct this distortion.
Source: André Künzelmann, UFZ
4.3.1 WHAT CAN POLICY
ASSESSMENTS CONTRIBUTE?
A Policy Assessment Framework is a way to
improve the quality and coherence of the policy
development process, and better integrate biodiversity
concerns.
It is hard to measure their pay-off because, by
definition, we do not know what would have happened
in their absence. however, where properly conducted,
assessments are generally found to be a worthwhile
and often low-cost investment. The European commission
estimates that they change around two-thirds
of its policies for the better and this finding is supported
by broader analysis of regulatory Impact Assessment
(Evaluation Partnership 2007, Jacobs 2006).
Policy assessments come in many forms, from formal
to informal, from up-front to reactive (to justify
decisions already taken or at least check that there are
no major negative impacts). They are in place for
different levels of decision-making: local, regional and
national. Box 4.10 describes the best-known formal
procedures 4 .
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