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Abstract
Road construction generally reduces the ecological value of the environment. To recover it, the value of the residual ecological impacts should be counterbalanced by compensation measures within the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) procedure. Ecological valuation and impact valuation are central to EIA performance. As long as residual impacts are valued, the rationale behind specific compensation proposals may be strengthened. This paper proposes a simple, transparent and adaptable approach to ecological and impact valuation. It aims at improving the perception, compilation and valuation of certain residual ecological impacts, as a means to encourage compensation practice within EIA.
Acknowledgements
Ana Villarroya is supported by a doctoral fellowship provided by the Department of Science, Technology and Universities of the Government of the Autonomous region of Aragón. Special thanks to Mr Carlos Villarroya for his help and support with field work.
Notes
1. Natori et al. (2004, (pp. 315, 319)) proposed the use of maps to narrow the communication gaps between research, policy formation and policy implementation. Maps allow “for clearer delivery of messages from researchers to government officials and residents”, contain “much less ambiguity than written administrative policies” and provide “a graphical presentation that allows for intuitive understanding of what will be attempted”. Maps “allow the government to invite local participation in nature conservation” and “allow residents to feel it would be easier to get involved, as a map would help them to consider the policy in the context of their daily lives more readily”. We understand that orthophotographs share all of these advantages for our purposes.