Contingent economic valuation of the environmental resources of the mangrove ecosystem in São Caetano de Odivelas (PA)

Abstract

The importance of environmental and natural resources for human life is increasingly evident. Mangrove ecosystem (s) are important for environmental balance and are considered the richest marine ecosystem after coral reefs. They are important not only for marine life and seawater quality, but also for countless other organisms that depend on it in their life cycle. In addition, the mangroves, through their crowns, sequester carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere, mitigating the greenhouse effect, and serve as 'natural barriers' against erosion. However, the uncontrolled extraction of marine life, as happens in the RESEX (conservation unit), the use of wood for firewood and other purposes, the grounding for the construction of summer houses, marinas, ports, etc. and the construction of marine farms such as shrimp farms are increasingly extirpating the mangrove (s) to create breeding ponds instead. Another threat is agriculture near the mangrove swamps, as rainwater rinses the ground, carrying pesticides to the mangrove swamps. Pollution, in general, is another cause of mangrove loss in Brazil and worldwide. Given the concern with the sustainability of this ecosystem, the environmental economic valuation is a fundamental tool in the formulation and evaluation of public policies oriented to sustainable development and the preservation of environmental (natural) resources of that ecosystem. The 'creation' of the hypothetical market involving direct and indirect uses and values ​​and non-use of mangrove option and existence, respectively, was conceived with the purpose of proposing the constitution of a policy aimed at preserving the entire mangrove ecosystem, the which would be instituted in an income transfer in the form of environmental compensation, for families that would no longer have access to mangrove resources. This remuneration should correspond to the advisory value of direct and indirect uses and non-use - option and existence, minimum obtained from mangroves. In addition, families should commit to preserving the mangroves by becoming the mangrove inspectors of their locality. The study proved that despite local empirical knowledge about ecosystem services, the combination of this with scientific knowledge provides better elicitation in the estimation of the economic values ​​of use and, above all, of non-use of environmental resources, which generates a more significant estimate. in terms of VERA.