The Value of Agroforestry Ecosystem Services Provided in Rural Communities in the Eastern Amazon (Tomé-Açu – PA, Brazil)

Abstract

The objective of this research is to estimate the socioeconomic and environmental value of ecosystem services produced by Agroforestry Systems of Tomé-Açu in society's perception. These systems, in addition to fruits, seeds, and nuts, provide other services that are perceived by society in the form of welfare, and are not yet sold on the market. For the analysis, the Integrated Method of Contingent Valuation was employed, which contemplates the economic, social and environmental dimensions. This approach relied in the equations modelling the Willingness to Pay for the conservation of Agroforestry Systems, and Willingness to Accept a compensation for not using these systems over other commercial production systems such as oil palm and soybean. The average value of ecosystem services in the Agroforestry Systems of Tomé-Açu in the population's perception was estimated at R$ 5.011,19 ha-1 for the Willingness to Pay and R$ 7.367,24 ha-1 for the Willingness to Accept. This indicates the importance given by the community to the benefits generated by the ecosystem services, in a magnitude higher than the market value of the Amazon rainforest and of the production systems. Therefore, the value of these services should also integrate the payment to compensate the producers that maintain these systems in the Amazon.

Socioeconomic and Environmental valuation of the Ecosystem Services: A Case Study of from Zoobotonical Park in Belém, Pará, Brazil

“…The results presented on the Figure 1 reveal the level of importance that the interviewed perceived and attributed to the ecosystem services produced by the natural assets. These results were superior to those found by Santana et al [32] and Oliveira et al [11], due to the higher degree of formal education and knowledge of the interviewees about the effects of the environment on the well-being of humanity.…”

“…The ecosystem services can be classified into four categories [2,3,6,7,41 Therefore, without these products and services, there is no economic growth or improvement in the population's quality of life [8]. Furthermore, studies on the valuation of ecosystems contribute to the improvement of valuation methodologies for natural assets that have a market price, and those that are not traded, given the rarity, endemism and non-consumption [5,7,9,10,11]. The basis of the valuation is to include the value of natural assets in the property's equity, and with it enabling the development and implementation of environmental policies, regulating the extraction of resources and estimating the effects of ecological footprints and natural phenomena [9,12,13,14,15].…”

“…In general, the valuation of natural assets for the purpose of preservation, indemnification or compensation, has as methodological basis applied by several studies, among them: Santana and Khan [16], Turner et al [17], Carson [18], De Groot et al [3], Santana [1], Bentes et al [19], Santana et al [20], Rosa et al [21], Santana et al [7,22], Acharya et al [23] and Oliveira et al [11].…”

“…The value of ecosystem services was estimated using a defined demand curve based on the visitors' declaration of willingness to pay a maximum amount to obtain the benefit of their visits and to ensure that the ZPB remains available for future generations [7,11,21,22]. This technique captures the value of direct and indirect use, revealed by the satisfaction obtained with the visitation and the benefits provided by the environment; as well as the value of non-use for those who do not visit the ZPB, but who, through altruism, they want to keep it for the benefit of others and are therefore willing to pay for its permanence.…”

“…The empirical application of IMCV, as proposed by Santana [5], and applied by Santana et al [7], Santana et al [22] and Oliveira et al [11], considering the equations of the WTP for the benefit of the visit and the WTA compensation for not visiting, allows the integration of knowledge about consumer surplus and social well-being with the premises Ecological Economy on the benefits that natural assets generate for the economy and the population. Thus, the WTP and WTA equations, which represent consumer demands for ecosystem services, were specified as follows:…”