Dr Laura Rival

Projects

Valuing nature in developing countries

What should the basic principles for the sustainable management of the diverse ecosystems found in Latin America be? How does urban planning and infrastructure development look like from a sustainable environment management perspective? Why and how should the livelihoods of rural and indigenous peoples be protected?

This new project builds on past research findings to engage the issue of value and valuation more theoretically. Trade-offs between development and conservation are often calculated on the basis of cost-and-benefit and multi-criteria analyses. We will look at the use of evaluation techniques by different political, economic and social actors involved in the design and implementation of development and conservation policies. Results will contribute to a better understanding of the conceptualisation of value in economic anthropology, ecological economics, and development economics.