Aplicação do método de valoração contingente para a determinação do valor económico ambiental da Estação de tratamento de Águas residuais de Infulene

Abstract

The objective of this work is to determine the economic environmental value of the Infulene Wastewater Treatment Plant (ETAR) in Mozambique using the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM). The research was conducted in the Infulene “A” neighborhood and involved 260 respondents. The results showed that only 14.62% of respondents were willing to pay for the conservation of the ETAR. Socioeconomic variables, such as sex, origin, and education, significantly influenced the willingness to pay. Women and natives of Infulene were more willing to pay. Additionally, environmental knowledge was also na important factor, with those having less environmental knowledge showing less willingness to pay. The study concluded that CVM can be used to determine the economic environmental value of the ETAR, incorporating Environmental Education (EE) elements. The average monthly willingness to pay was estimated at 3.60 MT per inhabitant. Based on the population of 6,181 inhabitants, the total amount collected would be 22,252.00 MT/month, totaling 267,024.00 MT/year for the maintenance and conservation of the ETAR. The results show that EE can play na important role in environmental conservation and that CVM can be a useful tool for assessing the economic value of environmental goods.