Valor de preservação do parque Nacional de Ubajara: uma aplicação do método de valoração contingente

Abstract

The Ubajara National Park, located in the Serra de Ibiapaba region in the state of Ceará, has suffered from threats to environmental quality caused by natural and anthropic factors. In order to support the environmental management of the federal conservation unit, this study utilized the contingent valuation method to estimate the preservation value of the Park. To do that, 414 visitors were interviewed, between the months of July and September of 2016, through a structured questionnaire aiming to gather data about their marital status, level of schooling, linkage to environmental organizations, city of origin, number of visits to the park, type of trip and bid value. Using the probit model to adjust the dichotomous responses to the lance offered, the mean willingness to pay (WTP) of the sampled visitors was estimated in R$ 15,27 (US$ 4.03 in the 2019 base year), which corresponds to the net benefit of R$ 1.570.000,00 (or US$ 414,240) per year from the visitation, considering the improvements in environmental quality proposed in the hypothetical scenario. The results showed that the preservation value of the environmental goods and services offered by the Ubajara National Park is significant, being even higher than the value of other protected areas in Brazil, justifying also in monetary terms the preservation e conservation of the ecological reserve.