Pagamento por serviços ambientais (PSA) nas terras altas da Mantiqueira

Abstract

Natural Resources conservation implies their economical and racional use and for that, where created the environmental politics instruments. One of those instruments is the Payment for Environmental Services (PES) which intends to compensate those who properly manage the environment and the natural resources, producing environmental products and services that benefit society. The compensation strategy for the farmer, especially for the family farmer, represents an additional income, and takes place as an environmental management tool, making possible the simultaneous existence of environmental preservation and economic growth. Therefore, it becomes necessary to analyze the PES for family farming and the benefits generated by its application. The objective of the four following chapters was to study and characterize the grounding for the PSA foundation existent in the world and in Brazil, analyzing the history and evolutional concepts about the subject; to describe the Brazilian land structure, focusing on family farming; to study the PES program of the State of Minas Gerais, called Bolsa Verde. In the last chapter, it was proposed valuation forms of the natural resources and eligibility criteria, for the implantation of a PES program, appropriate to the highlands of Mantiqueira – a demo unity in Itamonte, MG. It was concluded that the effectiveness of PES projects depends crucially on the adaptations to the social, economic, environmental and political contexts, where it will be deployed, and therefore, further discussion on the subject and dissemination of studies become very important to building a foundation that can assist the creation of new programs in the country