Strengths
¥Can focus on
necessary conditions to provide services
¥Can be based
on conventional tool of the production function
¥Can reflect
factors that determine aggregate willingness to pay
¥Can reflect
risks of service flow disruptions
¥Can be
site-based and take account of landscape context
¥Can be used
as benefit-transfer method if $$ estimates exist
¥Can be used
to compare environmental assets for trading
¥Can be used
for prioritizing environmental investments
¥Similar to
indicators that decision-makers use everywhere else
¥Practical
because of GIS and Web
¥Can reflect
relative preferences for mix of services
Weaknesses
¥Cannot be
used in conventional benefit-cost analysis
¥Not very
useful for justifying increases in levels of $ spending
¥Generally
unpopular with economists, scientists, & policymakers
¥Requires some
decisions that will appear to be arbitrary
¥Requires
acceptance as better than $$ and better than nothing
¥Requires
upfront investments in data collection/software