Many environmental policies and programmes help save people's lives. However, it can be difficult to assign this key benefit a value.' Because of this, mortality reduction is often not taken into account when potential projects are assessed. This omission can result in projects being undervalued and cancelled. To try and help fill this crucial information gap, a new EEPSEA study from the Philippines has calculated a 'value of life' estimate for children in Metro Manila of between US$0.70 million and US$o.80 million.