ValueassessmentisacentralelementinanEIAfortheunderstandingoftheimpactsofspecifiedprojects.Thevalueassessment
containssubjectiveelementsandthismaycauseerrorsanddifficultiesinnumericvalueassessmentmethods.Thereisaneedfor
transparent common criteria to promote discussion and understanding. A common criteria base already exists, but lack of
communicationbetweendifferentmanagementsystemsanddifferentdisciplines,allwithdifferenttraditionsinvalueassessment,
makesthesituationcomplex.Inthisarticlewehavelookedintothebasicunderstandingofvaluelinkedtotheinvestigationthemes
ofnaturalenvironment,culturalheritageandsociety.Theinvestigationthemeslinkedtosocialscienceisdifficulttoincorporate
intoacommonsystem,basicallybecausetheyhavelessfocusonlanduseandcontaindifferentvaluetypes.
Muchoftherelevantliteratureaboutvalueassessmentislinkedtotheassessmentofsitesofspecialinterestascandidatesfor
legalprotectionorconservation.InanEIAamuchbroaderrangeofareasisintroduced,includingthe“everydaylandscape”witha
lowerandmoregenerallevelofvalue.Togetherwithafocusonmitigationandadjustmentsofplans,thisresultsinaneedfora
moredetailedvalueassessmentscalethanisnormallyinusetoday.Wehavesuggestedanewscaletoeasecommunicationbetween
differentdisciplinesandmanagementsystems.