A agroecologia e os serviços ecossistêmicos : um estudo de caso nos assentamentos do município de Iperó/SP

Abstract

The human being interacts constantly with ecosystems and uses various goods and services from them. These goods and services are called "Ecosystem Services" (ES) and the benefits from these services are called "constituents of well-being." The agroecosystems are modified so that there is greater provision of certain ES, such as food, raw materials and fuels. However, to provide these ES, the agroecosystems need others ES to suits their needs, thus maintaining its production capacity. In agroecosystems, farmers are the main managers of natural resources, influencing the management directly. Therefore, understanding how farmers perceive and interact with natural resources is of great importance. This study aims to evaluate the perception of farmers on the ES, through semi-structured interviews. Analyzing ES perceived by farmers, their relationship with the agricultural practices used, with the impacts caused by agriculture and socioeconomic factors. The farmers interviewed were all in agroecological transition process and belong to settlements Ipanema and Horto Bela Vista, in the municipality of Iperó, near Ipanema National Forest. Within the results, it was observed greater perception of the production ES in relation to regulatory and cultural ES. As well the relevance of the educational level in the perception of ES. Increased awareness of the ES by farmers is of great importance, since it may well assist in agroecological transition.