Aproximación a la valoración económica del recurso hídrico superficial para la propuesta de un esquema por pago de servicios ambientales en la microcuenca quebrada blanca, municipio de Restrepo, Meta

Abstract

The economic valuation of a natural resource has become a planning strategy for sustainability, that is why the Payments Schemes for Environmental Services come to play a very important role in the resource preservation and the entire ecosystem that houses it. The objective of this study was to estimate the economic valuation of the surface water resources of the Quebrada Blanca micro-watershed through the contingent valuation method in which it is pursued to know the Availability to Pay of 41 beneficiaries of the water service of the Veradale Caney Alto y Balconcitos Aqueduct, and the Availability to be Compensated of the owners of 15 of private estates that are upstream of the water intake through semi-structured surveys; the vast majority of users surveyed on the subject of water resources positively expressed the willingness to grant an average monetary value of $12,750 Colombian pesos per month for the conservation and sustainable use of ecosystems that maintain the supply of water resources, in addition to the importance that presents to resource providers (landowners in the water intake) indicating that the supply of pure water and its regulation are the ecosystem services of high importance within the Quebrada Blanca micro-watershed. Subsequently, a proposal of Payments for Environmental Services is presented in which an economic incentive for conservation is formulated taking into account geophysical factors such as thermal flooring, erosion, area of the property, coverage and slope for properties that wish to preserve their area; in addition, it is proposed to apply compensation rates for water use, exemption from property tax and strengthening of the association of users of the resource; this Payment Scheme can be used as an instrument of action and/or planning by local, municipal or national authorities.