Valoración ecológica de la regulación hídrica potencial de la cuenca alta del Río Chicamocha

Abstract

Ecosystem services can be put in value, this assessment is usually monetary (economic) but can also be performed through other methods such as cultural or ecological (De Groot, 2002; MEA, 2005). It has been considered that economic valuation methods are not able to capture the impact generated by human activities on the environment (Farber et al. 2002), nor enough to translate other languages ​​valuation. One of the main ecosystem services is the water regulation defined: the ability to possess watersheds and catchments to collect and store rainwater (. Le Maitre et al 2014), thereby reducing runoff and flooding, as well as the slow and steady release of water so that the flows are kept meaning through the dry season. In this paper we evaluate the potential ecosystem service of water regulation in the Chicamocha River basin, from the perspective of ecological assessment at the landscape scale. This type generates studies science-based, which allows incorporating the concept of ecosystem services in decision-making processes, planning, design and management of the territory (de Groot, 2010