Welcome to GEVAD
The need for a searchable environmental valuation database
In recent years, legislative actions on environmental issues have dramatically increased all over the world, as a public demand for the protection, preservation and restoration of the environment. The latter stands especially true for EU, considering that in the ‘90s more than 300 legislative acts (Directives, Regulations, Decisions, etc.) were introduced aiming at preventing, avoiding and restoring environmental damages. Within this new framework of actions and legislations, there is a growing effort to incorporate monetary values for environmental impacts in order to assess the costs and benefits of environmental policies. Towards this direction, environmental economics hold an essential position in decision-making processes, both legally and in practice.
Given the increasing desire for incorporating monetary values in public decision-making, environmental valuation methods are applied at a growing rate in Europe. Nevertheless, original environmental valuation studies are, in general, expansive and time-consuming and, in the majority of cases, resources in terms of time and money are barely available. The latter has resulted in adopting the use of the "benefit transfer (BT)" method. In order to reach a satisfactory degree of reliability in BT a large number of original studies should be accessed. Towards this direction, searchable environmental valuation databases could significantly assist the application of the BT method for policy- and decision-making processes.
About GEVAD
In order to cover European studies at the degree possible, the on-line environmental valuation database GEVAD (Greek Environmental Valuation Database) was developed by the Laboratory of Mining and Environmental Technology of the School of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering at the National Technical University of Athens. This database provides necessary data to value environmental impacts of industrial activities in Greece and other European countries by means of the BT method in compliance with the institutional and research context of the international scientific community.
For the purposes of the project about 1.400 studies were reviewed, focusing on the ones that were spatially more relevant to Europe. Emphasis was also given on the most recent research results. In fact, 52% of the studies finally selected were conducted in the last two years, 68% in the last five years and 99% in the last ten years.
So far, more than 300 studies have been registered in GEVAD. These studies are classified according to the environmental asset, good or service, which is valued (e.g. amenities, water and air quality, land contamination, etc.), the valuation method used, the main author and the country of the “study site”. The database is searchable through a user-friendly environment and includes also a tool for adjusting the transferred values in order to offset influences concerning differences of price level and time between the “study” and the “policy” site.
GEVAD was developed by a small group of NTUA researchers, who are acknowledged on the “People” page. In order to achieve the purpose of its development, GEVAD will have to be updated with European valuation studies. Towards this direction, environmental valuation experts are mostly welcome to submit their research results through the “Submit a study” page. Users are also encouraged to send their comments at gevad@metal.ntua.gr.
Acknowledgments
The GEVAD Project was co-funded by the European Social Fund (75%) and National Resources (25%) - Operational Programme for Educational and Vocational Training (EPEAEK II)- PYTHAGORAS
Disclaimer
The Laboratory of Mining & Environmental Technology (LMET) and the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) have taken care to ensure the data presented in GEVAD are an accurate representation of the source studies, however NTUA and LMET accept no responsibility for results obtained from use of the database by third parties.