Valoración económica ambiental del recurso vegetal productivo de la comunidad de San Nicolás de la parroquia de Licto.

Abstract

The objective was to determine the environmental value of the productive plant resource of the San Nicolás community of Licto. One of the tools applied for the characterization of the resource and the soil where the vegetation was taken for research was the development of the maps delimiting the area, taking as reference the productivity of the vegetation and ground use. Environmental services were identified based on the consultation of social actors through the application of 352 surveys in the 8 main communities of the parish considered the most significant in extension, population, and productivity, to subsequently evaluate the potential of the services found, where it was shown that the stakeholders were in the capacity to differentiate the importance, with the frequency of use of the resource and this occurs due to location, academic level, experiences, among others; resulting in average ranks of 8 according to the importance of the resources. The inference analytical method was applied to determine the conservation surplus (DAP) that will depend on the economic income and the level of education, where its weighted average is USD 31994.24 being the annual payment for conservation of the plant resources of the area, another of the aspects taken are the value of use with a result of USD 2288943.18 per year, while the total economic value (TEV) of the plant resource understudy that reaches the year is USD 2320937.43. It is concluded that the analyzed and qualified environmental services took on vital importance for the area, being 9.87 times more than the total annual budget designated to the parish by government entities.