English Abstract The Directorate-General for the Environment of the
Dutch government is interested in information about the economic impact of
environmental protection policies. A first step in producing such
information is to generate estimates of the macro-economic impact of
policies in the area of acidification, eutrophication and dessication
directed at forests in the Netherlands. The feasibility of producing
reliable estimates is assessed in the present report. The conclusion of
this study is that it is quite possible to generate a quantitative
assessment of the macro-economic impact of environmental policies for
forests in the Netherlands. The method described and evaluated in the
report produces a partial estimate of the total benefits of environmental
policies. Benefits in areas such as agriculture, monuments, health and
other ecosystems than forests have not been addressed in this
study.
