Estimation of the ecosystem services of the vegetable resource of the parroquia Flores, cantón Riobamba

Abstract

The research aims to estimate the economic value of the productive plant resource of the Flores parish, for which in the first place, the characteristics of the area were analyzed qualitatively, as well as its sociodemographic variables around the plant resource, for this it was necessary calculate the total income received by producers from different services such as (vegetable, forestry and pastures). The income was calculated from the average yields and the production costs for the plant resource, for the forest resource and grasslands, they were estimated from market prices. The contingent value method was used, where 350 people from 4 communities of the Flores parish were surveyed under a hypothetical scenario of conservation of the plant resource, the willingness to pay of the users was estimated, at a value of $ 10, 20 per year despite the fact that most of the users (85%) would not be willing to cancel said value, as this responsibility is attributed to the government. The sociodemographic characteristics that influence the perception of ecosystem services were; the age variable, for provisioning services, this service was the best scored with a value of 9.2 / 10, this value indicates that users value tangible services more, that generate benefits, the least valued service was that of ancestral practices with a value of (5,6). The total environmental economic value of the productive plant resource calculated was $ 724,730.63, this value could vary around the time of year or other external factors.