Valoración económica ambiental de los servicios ecosistémicos del recurso vegetal de la parroquia San Gerardo, cantón Guano

Abstract

The aim of the current research was to determine the environmental economic value of the ecosystem services provided by the plant resource in San Gerardo rural parish, located in Guano county. Through field trip, interviews directed to social and political actors of the rural parish, review of the Development and Land Use Plan (PDyOT) of the parish, and documented review, the environmental baseline of the study area was implemented; The ecosystem services provided by the vegetation in the parish were determined by identifying the main activities related to the use of the plant resource, the land use (EU) where they are developed, key biodiversity elements (ECB) for the flora and activities affecting these parameters, which were related by using of cross tables. In addition, surveys directed to the population were also applied in order to know about their interest for the vegetal resource, this survey allowed knowing their willingness to pay (WTP) for the management and conservation of this resource. The environmental economic value was determined through the calculation of the direct use value of the main products cultivated in the parish, which was 566915.27 USD/year, and the willingness to pay calculated for the entire population was 12069.86 USD/year, thus obtaining a total economic value of 578985.13 USD/year, a budget that would be useful to face the consumption or loss of an environmental good or service in San Gerardo rural parish. The plant resource is very important for the parish, since it helps to meet basic subsistence needs as it generates economic income for the parish, hence the importance of valuing natural resources, therefore it is recommended to perform the economic valuation of the water resource, since the parish has springs that provide water for irrigation and human consumption.