Decision on investments for socio-economic development were normally based on
the analysis of economic and technical data related to expectations on technical
feasibility, economic costs and benefits. Environmental factors were not taken into
account as they were considered free of charge. It has however become clear that
the accelerated depletion of resources and the overloading of the environmental
carrying capacity has resulted in an alarming increase of environmental costs. It is
for this reason that the ‘’environmental cost benefits’’ should be an integral part of
the ‘’weighing process’’ in decision making at various levels of the governmental
structure and the private sector.
