El valor de la conservación de los servicios ecosistémicos de regulación de inundaciones asociados a bosques secundarios alto andinos usando valoración contingente

Abstract

Filtration rate, runoff and interception modified by land use changes affects watershed’s dynamics and so the quality and quantity of ecosystems services provided by them. The municipality of Tabio, Colombia is facing changes in land use due to urbanization processes which puts at risk the water regulation provided by the high Andean forests that surround it. The municipality of Tabio is located on the sub-basin of the river Frío, which belongs to the hydrographic basin of the Bogotá River. A contingent valuation of these ecosystem services allows demonstrating the ecological, socio-cultural and economic importance of the high Andean forestry cover which are valued according to the raw materials they provide. Through a survey we wanted to determine the willingness to pay for the conservation of high Andean forests and their ecosystem services, as well as to understand the demographic and ecological variables that influence this variable. In this study it was found that people identify forests as floods regulators and the age of the respondents determines their willingness to pay. These results demonstrate the value, not only economic, that the habitants of Tabio attribute to their forests and that should be considered within the development plans of the municipality.