Economic valuation of environmental benefits perceived by the Educandos basin population proceeding from PROSAMIM

Abstract

The environmental pollution observed down through the years in the streams of Manaus, linked to the process of social degradation on the populations which live in these areas was the motive for conceiving PROSAMIM - Programa Social e Ambiental dos Igarapés de Manaus. The Program seeks the environmental recuperation of streams and the social improvement of families that live a risk situation on the stream banks. The main target of this research consists in the economical evaluation of environmental benefits perceived by the population in the Educandos basin proceeding from PROSAMIM, using the Contingent Valuation Method - CVM to estimate individual willingness to pay for the environmental improvement. We estimated a sample size corresponding to 1,070 questionnaires, taking into account an error of 3% and significance level of 5%. In accordance with the results obtained, we concluded that the people were willing to pay R$ 13.73 per month toward implementing the PROSAMIM, for an annual total of R$46,325,074.92 per year. Analyzing the influence of socioeconomic variables on the acceptance probability of paying for environmental benefits, we concluded that the probability was greater among those with a higher income. We also concluded that, the actions of PROSAMIM have generated significant improvements for the population of Manaus from the environmental as well as the social point of view.