Avaliação da viabilidade econômica do pagamento pelos serviços ambientais (PSA) na Bacia do Ribeirão do Cipó, manancial estratégico de Poços de Caldas-MG

Abstract

The object of this research was the Cipo River watershed, strategic water source of Pocos de Caldas city in Minas Gerais state, with the following objectives: (I) characterize the current land use and occupation of the watershed; (II) Assess Willingness to Pay- WTP from the Pocos de Caldas’ population for Environmental Services- ES provided by the watershed; (III) Establishing and simulate hypothetical economic scenarios for Payment for Environmental Services; (IV) Evaluate the economic feasibility of deploying the PSE in the municipality. From the organization, interpretation and manipulation in Geographic Information System- GIS from images of Landsat satellite P6 of INPE - National Institute for Space Research regarding the day 09/01/2013, it was possible to characterize and measure in hectares the main uses and occupation of the lands for watershed. Through a statistical sample of the population of 151,449 inhabitants of the city, selected randomly in seven Weighting Areas-WA established by IBGE and based in the Master Plan for the city, 335 direct interviews were conducted with the population based on a questionnaire with 14 questions that addressed socioeconomic characteristics, environmental aspects and the WTP for ES. Thus, (4) four hypothetical economic scenarios were developed to confront the values ??obtained with the PSE face the Economic Opportunity Cost of the owners allowing an evaluation of economic viability. The results obtained were as follows: (I) of the 7,752 hectares of the watershed area, stands out: 30.2% native vegetation, exposed soil 29.3%, 23.8% cultivation of Eucalyptus, 4.9% of water in the reservoir and water bodies; (II) 54% of the population is willing to pay for ES with an average WTP of R$ 6.43. (III) The economic scenarios (1) and (3) are below the Opportunity Cost while the scenarios (2) and (4) present an appeal by incorporating the opportunity cost of the owners. (IV) Finally, conclusions about the economic feasibility of deploying PSE in Cipo River watershed basin in order to internalize the positive externalities of the ES from the water source for the protection and assurance of water supply for the city in the medium and long term.