Pagamento por serviços ambientais de recursos hídricos em áreas urbanas: um estudo a partir do Programa Córrego Limpo

Abstract

Payment for Enviromental Services -PES policies have been consolidating as a strategy for the management of natural resources in urban areas. In São Paulo, the Programa Córrego Limpo - PCL promoted by SABESP since 2007 aims to revert the degradation of water courses, contributing to an environmental improvement of urban natural resources. The PCL comprises the execution of infrastructure works to clean up the streams, monitoring actions and development of environmental education programs for the population. According to the strategic role for urban water resources and the results found by PCL, this program was chosen as object of research. The general objective of the present work is to explore the feasibility of proposal of payment scheme for environmental services of water resources in urban areas from the PCL. The methodological strategy of this work consists of an Exploratory - Descriptive research elaborated from the reflection and analysis of existing documents. The results of the research allowed, in the light of the comparison between data obtained from the bibliographical review and documentary data, to characterize the actions of the PCL as suppliers of environmental services; identify the environmental services that are offered by the PCL and identify the actors that make up a PSA arrangement from the current PCL design. Some environmental services offered by the PCL refer to: water purification, regulation of water borne diseases, regulation of natural damages and others. The PCL holds the potential for creating a PES scheme as the program offers a diverse range of environmental services. A PES scheme elaborated within the PCL structure is in line with what is proposed by the São Paulo PDE that regulates the PES as a policy to enable the conservation of forests and water. One of the main contributions of this research to practice refers to the proposal of PES schemes in urban areas as a strategy for city management. It is recommended that future research should focus on the establishment of PES schemes in urban areas as a model of environmental management in cities.