Some might say you can’t put a price on the environment, and certainly the natural beauty of our Island can be described as ‘priceless’.

This once neglected area of politics however, is about to get its own bargaining power through a two-year project to emphasise the value of the natural world and its resources in economic terms.

So how do you put a value on Bermuda’s environment?

Up to 30 representatives from Government and NGOs met last week in an attempt to start the evaluation. They put forward 15 ecosystems or issues they felt were important to Bermuda, which were then whittled down to four. Over the next few weeks, conservation experts will choose one to be the subject of a two year scientific study.

The ‘Economic Valuation of Bermuda’s Environment’ was organised by the Department of Conservation Services in conjunction with the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, which advises the UK Government on international conservation.

JNCC environmental economics adviser Emily McKenzie is to facilitate the project, but it will also involve the community and stakeholders through various workshops. Bermuda has been awarded Overseas Territories Environment Programme (OTEP) funding to conduct the environmental valuation study, together with Montserrat and the Cayman Islands, all of which are UK Overseas Territories.

All three will use valuation to demonstrate the benefits of the environment for human well-being and to support more sustainable decision making in small islands. The studies will cover a variety of issues and ecosystems, such as marine, coastal, inland mangrove wetland and forest.

By placing a monetary value on a prioritised ecosystem, organisers hope this will serve to emphasise environmental consideration in long-term Government policy and decision-making.

Samia Sarkis of the Department of Conservation Services said: “I believe this is a very important study because what’s happening in Bermuda now is that we have intense development which is encroaching on a lot of the natural resources and eco-systems, and so through this, we are giving the environment a voice.”

Placing a monetary value on environmental and social impacts means they are taken more seriously in the decision making process. Put simply, economic valuation is a technique to reveal how valuable the natural world really is.

If someone wanted to clear land to build a tourist resort for example, this would mean a trade-off between the ecosystem which would be lost and the benefits of a new resort. By determining the economic valuation of the affected ecosystem, this would make the trade-off more explicit and so help decide which one has the most benefit.

Having access to the costs, values and risks of environmental change facilitates more objective decision making. It means Government has a greater understanding of long-term economic, social and environmental impacts.

Economic valuation studies can help towards more sustainable development on small islands. One example of this is the revenue generation of Nelson’s Dockyard National Park in Antigua.

They can also ensure appropriate levels of compensation for environmental damage, such as penalties per square metre of damaged coral reef.

Ms McKenzie said: “The study is all about estimating the benefits to people of Bermuda’s environment. In the long term we hope to influence policy so those benefits are incorporated into decision making. This is to bring in environmental and social impacts on a level playing field and to put dollar valuations to them so they have equal weight as to the financial costs and benefits.

“The main aim of the initial workshop was to identify issues in Bermuda which are threatening natural resources. We now have four priority case studies and over the next few weeks we will decide on one.

“We could be talking about the marine environment, for example the benefits of coral reefs, or the terrestrial environment, such as the importance of woodland open space. It could even be issues of ground water supply.”

Ms McKenzie said that the Montserrat project has focused on the island’s last forested watershed, and its importance in water supply and biodiversity. In the Cayman Islands, the conservation team is looking at an inland mangrove wetland which provides protection against storms and is also a nursery for fish. Bermuda presents its own unique scenario. “It is obviously very highly populated and significantly developed,” said Ms McKenzie.

“In the long term, the study should improve the sustainability of policy in Bermuda, because we take into account environmental, social and economic impacts. You’re looking at the benefits to future generations, so it gives people a longer term perspective. “The man in the street values the environment for all sorts of reasons. They may value it because they get to use it for income, such as through fishing, or for recreation, or they may value it for the protection it offers.

“They may also value it for less tangible reasons — because it is beautiful or for its spiritual impact. But those values are not necessarily reflected in political decision making, because they don’t have monetary values, and so I think this allows people’s environmental values to be put into political terms and reflected in decisions.”