Evaluation Theory in Environmental Economics: Territorial Aspect

Abstract

The desire to assess the value of natural resources led to the emergence of the evaluation theory in environmental economics. However, the lack of a systematic approach to the natural resources evaluation, as well as undefined assessment boundaries hinder the development of the such a theory, including the concepts of ecosystem services and total economic value. Based on the review of relevant scientific publications, the paper aims to analyse the evolution of the evaluation theory in environmental economics, as well as to reveal its general trends and phenomena. The methods of systematisation and content analysis were applied along with evolutionary and regional approaches. The example of the natural resources development in the northern regions was used to trace the evolution of the evaluation theory in Russia. A number of basic trends and phenomena in the development of the examined theory were identified. An axiological (subjective) value has been converging with an objective value of natural resources due to the integration of various assessment factors: 1) utilitarian (early 19th — mid-20th centuries); 2) utilitarian and social, utilitarian and ecological (mid-20th century — the turn of the 20th-21st centuries); 3) utilitarian, social and ecological in aggregate (early 21st century — present day). The evaluation object (territorial aspect) has also been expanded from local assessment to the assessment of the natural resource potential of regions and the world. The paper demonstrates that the evaluation theory in environmental economics, which now considers utilitarian, social and ecological aspects, will continue to develop by creating new paradigms, approaches, methods and techniques for assessing the value of nature resources in order to converge the axiological and objective values.