ECONOMIC ASSESSMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL HYDROLOGICAL SERVICES OF NATIVE FOREST IN THE SCHWARZENBERG BROOK WATERSHED,ELDORADO, MISIONES

Abstract

The problem of this research is to determine the economic value that the people from Eldorado assign to hydrological services of the native forests. The general objective of this project is to evaluate the hydrological environmental services that native forests provide to the Schwarzenberg watershed, for a forest restore project. The following activities have already been developed: a compilation of antecedents; characterization of the present watershed´s condition; the determination of protection services provided by the native forests; and the economic valuation of environmental service, using the contingent valuation method. The results indicate that the eldoradenses have assigned a monetary value of 2,025 pesos per hectare per year to the environmental service, and the conclusion was that without the surrounding protective forest, the maximum flow and the torrential condition of the basin increase. Families are willing to pay for the hydrological environmental services that native forests provide to the basin; and it is recommended to do more studies to outline a payments system for environmental services, considering that the Schwarzenbergs watershed drains into the Piray Mini stream, a short distance upstream from the outlet of the public water supply system of Eldorado.