Valoración económica ambiental del recurso vegetal del cantón Chambo, provincia de Chimborazo

Abstract

The objective of this research was to detern1ine the environ1nental and econo1nic value of the plant resource of the Cha1nbo canton, Chin1borazo Province, for which the characterization of the plant resource was carried out using the survey of a baseline with the help of cartography maps, field visi ts and review of the Development Plan and Territorial Ordering of the Cha1nbo canton. For the evaluation of ecosysten1 services, in the first place, their identification was carried out, for which the importance of plant production, land use and the popu lation's perception was determined. In addition, surveys were applied to the population to detem1ine their perception, their evaluation according to their socioden1ographic variables and their willingness to pay for the conservation and technica l n1anagen1ent of plant resources in the canton. Two methodologies were applied to detennine the total econo1nic va lue;the first was the contingent valuation method, which consists of detenn ining the net production value per year of the top products grown in the" "canton, where a direct use value of 1,071 was obtained. 786.54. The second 1nethod was to determine the percentage of people willing to pay (DAP), where a favourable response from the population was obtained as a result of 68.7% acceptance; in this section, a value of $71,506.40 was obtained, therefore obtaining a total econon1ic value of $1, 143,292.94, which exceeds the cantonal budget, which is $454,180.47, which is allocated to envirorunental 1nanagen1ent. This value represents how 1nuch 1nisuse or n1isuse wou ld cost the Exploitation of the plant resource in the Cha1nbo canton. ln1p len1enting envirorunental 1nanage1nent progra1ns that include the population in a participatory manner is recommended.