Total Economic Value of Natural Capital – A Case Study of Piatra Craiului National Park

Abstract

In the last two decades different methodologies for assessing the economic implications of protected areas have been developed within the framework of “Total Economic Value”, taking into account not only goods and services that have a price and a market but also those not priced or marketed. The present paper, by using a number of recognized methodologies applied by environmental economists around the world, estimates the economic value of ecosystem services of Piatra Craiului National Park, in one of the first attempts to frame ecosystem services valuation in Romania. The approach and results include a benefit distribution analysis, for both the economic sectors and the groups of beneficiaries. Even if the data are not comprehensive and depend on several assumptions, the paper provides very important practical and policy-relevant information on the economic value of Piatra Craiului National Park, in an attempt to stimulate increasing of the budgetary allocation and economic policy priority for protected areas in Romania.