Economic Valuation of Environmental Impacts of a 2D Seismic Survey in the Marañon River Basin, Peru
Abstract
This study seeks to estimate in monetary terms the impacts on the ecosystem services
of a 2D seismic Project in the rainforest region of Peru. Economic valuation of the
environmental impacts of land use projects is an important part of Environmental Impact
Assessments (EIA) in Peru. EIAs are used to establish a social and environmental
base line, identify impacts, and establish mitigation measures and compensations.
Legislation is very broad in regard to the goals and ways to conduct economic valuations.
Assessments are not comparable and/or use overly general secondary data. In this context,
this study proposes a way to both standardize and improve the economic valuation methods
for EIAs in Peru by using local data on the impacts on the ecosystem services and
on the economy of the people that depend on them and accounting for the impacts after
the project has ended.
The impact of the project on the carbon capture and storage are calculated through
valuation of carbon stocks, deforestation carbon flux loss, and reforestation carbon
flux. The impacts on the economic activities that depend on ecosystem services are
also estimated for agriculture, hunting and fishing. The results of this analysis
vary largely from the ones obtained for the same project using overly generalized
data from literature reviews and research conducted in other parts of the world. This
shows the bias that overly discretionary guidelines generates; it is also a call to
the environmental authorities to establish a common ground for economic valuations
in EIA and the benefits that this could represent for the authorities, local communities
and the companies that conduct projects in Peru.
The first part of this document provides an introduction to the topic, followed by
a description of the methods applied and an identification of the project’s impacts.
These impacts are then assessed by prevention and mitigation measures in the fourth
part. The impacts are classified in potential and residual impacts. The residual
impacts after the mitigation plans are valued using data from local sources, forest
inventories, household surveys and relevant literature.
Type
Master's projectPermalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/8554Citation
Manrique Zeder, Liseth (2014). Economic Valuation of Environmental Impacts of a 2D Seismic Survey in the Marañon
River Basin, Peru. Master's project, Duke University. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/8554.Collections
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