Criterios metodológicos para la evaluación del impacto económico de los bienes y servicios ambientales que aporta la reforestación en las cuencas hidrográficas en Cuba

Abstract

There are in the country 632 watersheds with more than 5 km². Eight of them have priority due to the affectation degree of its basic natural resources and the complexity of its physical and natural conditions. The watersheds space within the rational administration process of resources must be taken as basic unit of planning within it the definition of resources use can be stated and the effect of such use on resources can be determined. Before the sixties in the past century, the concept of watershed management for sustainable development was limited in our country. On sustaining development in planning processes, it is determined that the rational use of resources must be centered in the concept cause - effect with a base in the relation man – nature, identified and evaluated within the watershed. Evaluation is part of planning to all levels not only spatial but also temporal. However, in Cuba, the economic evaluation of environmental goods and services offered by the forest has been insufficient in term of studies of integral management of natural resources in watersheds. In this work it is offered the essential methodological criteria to take into account for evaluating the economic impact of environmental goods and services offered by the implementation of the ambitious reforestation plan of watersheds carried out in the country.