Valoração econômica das unidades de conservação da Serra de São José, MG: abordagem da disposição ao trabalho voluntário / Economic valuation of the conservation units of the Serra de São José, MG: approach of the willingness to voluntary work

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2009

RESUMO

The Serra de São José is located in the state of Minas Gerais, in the historical cities of Tiradentes, São João del Rei and Prados, as well as in the municipalities of Santa Cruz de Minas and Coronel Xavier Chaves. Its vegetation is composed by mata atlântica remainders, campo rupestre, cerrado, and matas de galeria. Several species of orchids abound in this area as well as various natural lagoons. Besides, it shelters many species of dragonflies, frogs, birds, and some threatened mammalian species (lobo-guará, jaguatirica etc). To protect this rich natural patrimony, the government of the State of Minas Gerais ordered the creation of two units of conservation in the area, namely, an Environmental Protection Area (EPA) and a Wildlife Refuge (WR), created in 1990 and 2004, respectively. However, although protected by decrees, the Serra de São José has been degraded by disorderly urbanization, illegal selling of orchids, burnings, motorcycle tracks, mining etc. In face of this scenario, the main objective of this work was to estimate the economic value of the environmental services provided by Serra de São José in the municipality of Tiradentes, MG. Thus, the contingent valuation method was applied, using as valuation measures the variables willingness to pay (WTP) and willingness to voluntary work (WVW). Data for these variables and other relevant data were collected in a field research through interview of 218 residents, in 2008. Of these residents, 72.48% would be willing to pay and 75.23% would be willing to work voluntarily, i.e., a large percentage of those interviewed were willing to pay and work as volunteers in order to preserve and conserve the environmental services provided by the Serra de São José. The highest means of the WTP corresponded to interviewees who individually received 3.5 minimum wages per month, had a technical course diploma, ages ranging 18-25 years, were female gender, visited the serra recently and intended to visit it in the future. The highest means of the WVW, measured in hours, corresponded to interviewees that individually received 1.5 minimum wages per month, had college education, age ranging 25-32 years, were male gender, had never visited the serra, but intended to visit it in the future. Besides, when the amount of voluntary work hours was converted in monetary terms per hour wage rate of each interviewee, it was verified that the highest means of the monetary WVW corresponded to interviewees that had an monthly individual income of five or more minimum wages, had graduate education, age ranging 46-53 years, were male gender, and had never visited the serra but intended to visit it in the future. To guarantee the consistency and reliability of the economic value estimates, the used data of the WTP and WVW were from interviewees who showed ecological awareness, had a previous knowledge of the problems that occur in the serra, considered it to be relevant, did not answered discrepant values and did not show any bias. Thus, by using the median, it was estimated that the interviewees would individually pay R$ 10.00 per month to improve the flow of environmental services provided at the Serra de São José. The median value of the individual WVW was R$ 22.64 per month. As they were multiplied by the number of residents in the urban zone of Tiradentes, these individual values resulted in R$ 588,840.00 and R$ 1,333,133.76; which are annual economic values obtained for WTP and WVW, respectively. As it can be observed, the WVW economic value is more than double the WTP value, i.e., the residents of that city would aggregate a higher value to the environmental services of the serra through voluntary work. These values will can be used by organs in charge of protecting the Serra de São José, either to allocate resources or as parameters to execute sanctions in cases of degradation of that relevant natural resource.

ASSUNTO(S)

disposição a pagar disposição ao trabalho voluntário serra de são josé economias agraria e dos recursos naturais willingness to pay willingness to voluntary work serra de são josé

ACESSO AO ARTIGO

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