Analysis of programs of payment for environmental services in southern Brazil: identifying strategies for the conservation of Araucaria angustifolia

Abstract

Brazilian’s conservation strategies are not limited only by the creation of Protected Areas, either Integral Protection or Sustainable Use. There are distinct strategies that aim to value services provided by ecosystems, combining conservation to the access of environmental services provided by biodiversity. In this context, there are the Payments for Environmental Services (PES). Throughout the Mixed Ombrophilous Forest (MOF), the plant species Araucaria angustifolia, known as Pinheiro-do-Paraná, is as threatened as the MOF ecosystem itself. Consequently, PES programs appear as an alternative tool to the main strategies for the preservation and conservation of biodiversity. In order to evaluate the PES programs created at the MOF that contribute to the species’ conservation, we evaluated four PES projects in southern Brazil: “Desmatamento Evitado”, “Araucária+”, “Corredor Ecológico Chapecó” and “Estrada com Araucárias”, all of them distributed in Paraná and Santa Catarina states. The basis for the programs’ selection was a literature review. Once we selected them, we identified the indicators and topologies of each one, as well as an index indicating positive and negative points between the selected PES programs. The results showed that the selected PES have broad objectives, which value differently the indicators of additionality, permanence, transaction, but showed little evidence to the spillover indicator. The mostly contemplated typologies are support and regulation. Cultural services typology could be contemplated more frequently, for instance. Finally, by analyzing these four programs, despite few indicators and typologies that involve a PES, there are different possibilities that align conservation and valuation of biodiversity positively, since the programs have different methodologies, scopes, and objectives in general.