What are “Use” and “Non-Use” Values?
The term “use value” seeks to capture values for the public’s use of natural resources, many of which are not actually traded in the marketplace, but can be assigned a dollar value. For example, consumptive value attributes a value to lost resource uses of sportsmen and tourists who would have taken wildlife in hunting or fishing pursuits, while non-consumptive uses include the ecosystem’s value to photographers, bird watchers, and the like. Valuation of natural resources is not based solely on “use” of a particular resource or set of resources. People may derive value from simply knowing that the resource is there, even if they never actively use it. “Bequest” value, for example, is an element of non-use value and reflects the resource as a legacy passed by the present generation to its children. In the economics literature, natural resource values not related to present use of the resource have been termed “existence,” “intrinsic,” “passive,” and “non-use” values. There is disagreeme
