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| Author(s): |
Daniel Caixeta Andrade
Total Authors: 1
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| Document type: | Doctoral Thesis |
| Press: | Campinas, SP. |
| Institution: | Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Economia |
| Defense date: | 2010-02-26 |
| Examining board members: |
Ademar Ribeiro Romeiro;
Bastiaan Reydon;
João Fernando Marques;
Peter Herman May;
Joshua Chaplin Farley
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| Advisor: | Ademar Ribeiro Romeiro |
| Abstract | |
This dissertation had as main goal to contribute to the methodological improvement of the ecosystem services valuation process. The basic hypothesis adopted was that it should consider using the ecological-economic modeling as a basic tool required to better understanding the ecological dynamics involved and incorporating the other values of ecosystem services that otherwise would not be captured. Ecosystem services are the basic interface between natural capital and human well-being. They are the direct and indirect benefits generated from the complex interactions among natural capital components. Despite its importance, the functioning of traditional markets does not consider them in economic transactions, because they are considered "free" or "gifts" from nature. As they are not priced like other good or services, there are no incentives for its preservation, leading to over-exploitation and often to its total loss. As an important management tool, it is vital to go beyond with proposals for improving the ecosystem services valuation, in order to overcome its reductionist bias. In this sense the most important contribution of this dissertation is the proposal of a dynamic-integrated valuation approach, which is aimed at integrating the stricto sensu valuation to the more general analysis of changes in ecosystem services flows and its effects on economic variables. Through practical applications of ecosystem services valuation, it was shown that this process cannot do without the use of modeling as a tool for assessing biophysical flows of ecosystem services. Without this tool there is no way to conduct a valuation exercise that really comes close to the real value of ecosystem services. (AU) | |