Valoração ambiental da estação ecológica do Panga

Abstract

The environmental valuation has proved to be an important tool for the protected areas management. These protected areas are due to the discussion on environmental preservation forward the evolution of environmental degradation. Such discussions began in Brazil in the sixties and seventies of the 20th century whose advance led to the creation of the National System of Conservation Units (SNCU).which rules every Brazilian protected areas, including the Ecological Stations. They are peculiar because within them only one only allows academic researches. Therefore, this study aimed to characterize the Panga Ecological Station (PES), in the Brazilian city of Uberlândia, Minas Gerais, that is very important due to its environmental assets and the researches carried out there. Later, we verified the society perception (residents and researchers) on the Station by Contingent Valuation Method and identified the social and economic profile with their Willingness to Pay (WTP) and their Provision Receivable (PR). In field study we applied 300 questionnaires for the residents group and 11 for teachers group. The residents group were mainly females (59%) and married (65%), with higher age group between 26-33 years; (22%).They have a monthly income of R $ 3,257.06, WTP was positive (63%), R$21,47 or R$ 4,638,316 annually. Concerning to PS, only 20% showed positive values. Among them, we could estimate t $ 47.21 per month for individuals or R$ 10.197.360 annually. The group of researchers were 89% females, 56% from 41 to 50 years aged, married (100%), 67% graduated in Biological Sciences, monthly household income on average of R $ 12,209.23. They showed 79$ of positive WTP, estimated in R$288,00 per month or R$ 6.240.000 annually. PR was negative (0%). We estimated a logit regression (for the resident sample) in order to identify the variables that influenced WTP or PR. In WTP it was observed that age variables indicate that the greater the age of the individual, the lower the probability of having a positive WTP. The residence time variable indicated that the longer the residence time in the conference site, the greater the likelihood of having a positive WTP. As for family income, it was observed that the higher the family income the probability of presenting positive WTP. The variable that indicates whether the resident has the knowledge of what is sustainability indicated that if I have, there is more likely to have positive WTP. For the PR, the sex variables indicated that men are more willing to take to protect women. When the family income, it was found that with increasing family income, more likely to be negative PR. The variable estimated respondents whether they agreed with the exploitation of PES case bring jobs to the region, showed that individuals who accept that were explored station have a higher DAR. We concluded that society shows a positive WTP, but a negative PR, since many of them recognize that by accepting the amount receivable would be a legitimate action exemplified in the hypothetical scenario. Furthermore, the differentiation in the two sample groups was important, because the Ecological| Stations present this double function: hey are providers of ecosystem assets and studying areas for the researchers.