IUCN Bangladesh

The Sundarbans, the immense target_idal mangrove forests of Bangladesh, are a mosaic of islands of different shapes and sizes, perennially washed by brackish water swirling in and around the endless and mind-boggling labyrinths of twisting water channels. This is the place where mainland Bangladesh meets the Bay of Bengal, making the area a globally unique ecological niche.

To explore the concept of green accounting, IUCN Bangladesh held two workshops in Dhaka (1997, 1998). The participants consisted of experts, academics, bureaucrats, policy-makers, and consultants representing a broad spectrum of government and non-government agencies. The workhop proceedings have been published to create a greater awareness of the need for the application of environmental accounting in Bangladesh.

The tools of environmental economics are not as well-known in Asia as they should be. This volume seeks to fill this gap by building understanding in this important area and showing policy-makers how these tools can contribute to resolving important questions in South Asian development. The book begins with an overview paper explaining what economists think about the environment and introduces the tools of valuation, cost-benefit analysis and environmental accounting.