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The restoration of the Skjern did not attempt to bring this river back to an imagined “state of nature” separate from the Danish economy. Reeds are harvested across 250 hectares for commercial sale. The restored river valley is also popular among tourists.

The Royal Danish Agricultural University concluded that the project was a good public investment at a 3% discount rate and a time horizon of 20 years, or even a 7% discount rate if we allow an indefinite time horizon [DKPL]. Their calculation did not attempt to put a value on the 15,000 tonne annual reduction in CO2 emissions—not because the reduction was uncertain, but because Denmark’s international obligations at the time did not allow reductions of this kind to be counted in the national CO₂ account. They did, however, put a value on the reduced amounts of nitrates and phosphates flowing out of the Skjern, and the increased biodiversity.

This leads naturally to our next topic, another field pioneered by Odum and his students: ecological economics! I'll talk about that next time.

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[DKPL] Dubgaard A., Kallesøe, M., Petersen, M. L. & Ladenburg, J. (2002). Cost-benefit analysis of the Skjern River restoration project, Social Science Series 10, Department of Economics and Natural Resources, Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Copenhagen.