Putting a price tag on paradise: 7/00

7/19/00

Mark Shwartz, News Service (650) 723-9296;
e-mail: mshwartz@stanford.edu

Putting a price tag on paradise

Conservationists and corporations often do not see eye to eye.

An environmentalist may argue that a rainforest should be protected for its inherent beauty, while a logging company executive might claim that its real worth lies in its cut timber.

With such a wide range of opinion, is it ever possible to reach a consensus on the economic value of a rainforest?

Yes, say 17 ecologists and economists in a new article published in the journal Science.

"We must make conservation profitable," says biologist Gretchen C. Daily, lead