CRS-9 



Con 



Other persons oppose increased emphasis on the role of economics in wet- 

 land management. Wetland management has been based on a consideration of 

 scientific facts within a political process. They assert that there are a 

 number of cases in which scientific knowledge has been translated into eco- 

 nomic terms does not appear to have affected the decision process. That pro- 

 cess may be less effective if It is too imprecise. Further, economic con- 

 siderations may be used in decisions where other considerations should be 

 more important. 



These persons argue that economic terms offer no particular advantage 

 over scientific terms. In fact, using the economic structure may lead an 

 analyst to conclude that values can be more precisely compared than, in fact, 

 is possible. The problems associated with trying to attach economic measures 

 to natural resouce values have been discussed in a number of forums. Efforts 

 to use these measures frequently result in disagreements over procedure, 

 rather than resolution of the actual issue in question. This difficulty of 

 using economic measures has occurred in a number of topics in the past, most 

 notably water resource development projects. 



Finally, economic measures can only be developed based on scientific 

 knowledge. Without the necessary base of knowledge, It will be impossible 

 to develop supportable values. Before developing an economic analysis 

 capability for most wetlands, considerably more scientific information is 

 needed on each wetland type, on comparing functions, and on functional 

 relationships among different wetlands. 



