Valoración económica de los beneficios ambientales de la recuperación del río Segura (España)

Abstract

The European Union Water Framework Directive establishes the need to reach a good ecological status of water bodies by 2015. This requires the application of different measures, among which the plans for environmental restoration of rivers stand out. Furthermore, this Directive integrates the use of economic instruments to justify those measures designed to achieve a proper state of the water body. The objective of this study is to evaluate in monetary terms the environmental benefits that the environmental restoration of a natural resource such as Segura River brings by using the contingent valuation method. The results evidence that the benefits generated by the river after its recovery would exceed 7 million euros per year. This value should be considered in the cost - benefit analysis for the actions taken in Segura River in order to justify its social profitability form an economic standpoint.