ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMIC VALUATION OF PROTECTED AREA IN BRAZIL: APPLICATION OF THE HEDONIC PRICING MODEL

Protected areas are an important means for the conservation of environmental systems. They have been used for this purpose since the nineteenth century, but it was only in the twentieth century that they became famous, mainly due to the influence of international organizations such as the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which to this day presents itself as one of the main organizations in defense of environmental protection. In Brazil, conservation units became popular after the creation of the National System of Conservation Units (SNUC), with an exponential increase in the creation of these areas. However, the increase in the creation of these areas did not guarantee that the ecological systems were effectively protected, much due to the difficulties of financial resources for this purpose. In this sense, the object of study in question, the Parque do Poeta, fits into this discussion. Starting from an economic theoretical contribution for the interpretation of this phenomenon, the work proposed to answer the following question: what is the benefit of the conservation of the protected area, known as Parque do Poeta, seized by the real estate market in Campina Grande, Brazil? The results of the research show that this effect happens in the real estate market of Campina Grande, it is observed in the parameter value calculated from the statistical model through the hedonic price methodology. The environmental economic value of the protected aream, was understood as the first derivative of the hedonic price function with respect to the proximity of apartments in the city with the protected area, and from it can be seen that the variation of willingness to pay for a natural environment in Campina Grande is greater when the property is closer to the Parque do Poeta.