Identificação e valoração de serviços ecossistêmicos no Parque das Dunas, Natal-RN

Abstract

The present work aims at the identification and valuation of ecosystem services at the Parque Estadual Dunas do Natal Jornalista Luiz Maria Alves, better known as Parque das Dunas or Bosque dos Namorados, located in the municipality of Natal, in the eastern portion of the state of Rio Grande do Norte. It was the first Environmental Conservation Unit (UC) established in that state, and was designed in 1977, through State Decree nº 7,237/77. It is an integral part of the Atlantic Forest biosphere reserve recognized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and, therefore, declared an Environmental Patrimony of Humanity. The Park offers a variety of educational, recreational, physical and cultural activities, as well as the possibility of carrying out studies, researches and works of scientific interest, and contributing to the maintenance of air quality, recharge of the aquifer, among other benefits that can be enjoyed throughout society. These benefits are known as Ecosystem Services can be defined, in a general way, as the benefits (material or immaterial) obtained by man through nature and are directly related to human well-being. The identification of the ecosystem services of the Park was made using the Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services (CICES) table. It was possible to recognize the existence of services in all categories defined by CICES - Regulation and Maintenance, Provision and Cultural - with this identification was possible to choose the services that were valued, since it would be impossible to valuate all, and, of course, to make the research more complete. The importance of this identification is due to the fact that many of these services and the corresponding benefits are often unknown, so that public policies are based on subjective assessments of the importance of these resources. After identification, the services chosen were assessed through consultations with the population, through the application of questionnaires. The public is targeting the research of the competitors of the Parque das Dunas and students of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN). These consultations aimed to discover the individual preferences of the interviewees, and, thus, to discover the importance attributed to the Park by the users of these services. With this analysis, it was possible to perceive that the interviewees can recognize some of the services provided. They were also able to realize how these services directly and indirectly affect their quality of life. We believe that, with the reach of these objectives, this work may contribute as an instrument for the preservation and management of the Parque das Dunas, since we trust that it has brought to the fore the importance of preserving that area, not only from the point of view of maintaining the environmental conditions, but also of the human welfare provided by the Park to its visitors and to the population as a whole.