Niños y plantas: servicios ecosistémicos de la vegetación percibidos en escuelas públicas urbanas en una ciudad andina

Abstract

The objective of the study was to analyze the importance that children (8-12 years old) as-sign to urban vegetation as a provider of three categories of ecosystem services, through its ecological, nutritional and human health role. The participating schools had the following characteristics: being urban, presence of green areas in different proportions, and willing-ness of authorities and teachers to participate in the study. A descriptive survey with six multiple-choice questions was applied. The results showed that the presence or absence of school green areas did not have a significant influence on environmental perceptions; however, there are other relevant factors such as direct contact with nature and learning about plants generated in a daily context not necessarily linked to the school. Additionally, the most widely recognized were the regulating services, understood as the importance of vegetation in regulating air quality and the hydrological cycle. The cultural services were re-lated to the aesthetic value of plants and the provisioning services were associated with food and medicine. In addition, and contrary to what is theoretically established, boys perceived the ecosystem regulation services more easily compared to girls (chi-square test p< 0.05).