Cost-Benefit Studies use scarce resources too: some lessons from a study of forested wetlands in the Moreton region

Although proposed developments which may adversely affect environmental assets are increasingly subjected to scrutiny through the application of an environmental assessment technique such as cost-benefit analysis, little consideration has been given to the question of the optimal allocation of resources to the actual cost-benefit study itself. It is argued here that significant resource savings may be made if the allocation of resources to cost-benefit analyses is commensurate with the importance of the decisions being informed by the analyses. Using a study of the Melaleuca quinquenervia dominated forested wetlands of the Moreton Region, it is demonstrated that the decisions about their future use may be accompanied by significant resource savings as a result of the development of rules of thumb linking the characteristics of wetland vegetation with the functions which wetlands perform.