Valoración económica ambiental del recurso suelo en la parroquia rural de Licto

Abstract

The present work, carried out in the rural parish of Licto, Riobamba municipality, had as a general objective to value, economically and environmentally, the land resource. First, the current state of the land was characterized by field trips through the 27 communities that make up the parish; the actors involved were identified. Physical, chemical and biological analyzes of samples taken in the three zones (high, médium, low), forest floor, grass, crop and eroded soil were performed, showing in the result the negative incidence for Eucalyptus in forest, when verifying changes in pH, organic matter and plant cover. Georeferencing points were made to establish the sampling sites and to make thematic maps through the ArcGis program. The ecosystem services were selected, obtaining 10 relevant services; which with the help of surveys were valued by the residents. Whereas for the data processing and evaluation of results, a statistical analysis was made. Thus, it was evidenced that the population of Licto presents a high degree of environmental awareness, obtaining a weighted average of 7,53/10 considered good on the Likert scale as the final result of the 4 categories of ecosystem services proposed. To obtain the total economic value, 3 methods were used: Direct with a value of $ 6,837,813.25, hedonic prices with a value of $ 2,763,119.22; and contingent valuation finding the willingness to pay for the management and conservation of the soil resource, resulting that less than 50% are willing to pay, obtaining a value of $ 42,905,53. The result of the VET is high with a value of $ 9,643,838.00 for the soil resource, implying that there is a noticeable incidence within the economy and local well-being, so actions must be taken for its management and conservation.