Serviços de ecossistemas em Moçambique: uma avaliação biofísica e monetária entre 2005 e 2025

Land cover change has been negatively affecting the provision of ecosystem services (ES) to satisfy the increasingly global demand of goods. ES valuation assessments may provide relevant information to policy makers about natural capital, being one potentially effective way of achieving sustainability. In this work GlobCover land cover data was utilized to identify Mozambique’s biomes between 2005 and 2009. A benefit transfer approach was used to estimate the values of the services delivered by the ecosystems. With this dissertation we intend to contribute to a better understanding of the value of ES provision and its contribution for wellbeing in Mozambique, and create the conditions for better maintaining these services. For that reason, we develop three studies about ES assessment; we start with the assessment of changes in ecosystem service monetary values in Mozambique between 2005 and 2009 (Chapter 2). Then we study multiple ES using ES indicators, including biodiversity, from 2005 to 2025 (Chapter 3). Finally, a prediction of ES monetary value for 2025 is presented (Chapter 4). This set of studies may contribute to the development of policy instruments and assist decision policies affecting ES provision and trade-offs in Mozambique. Additionally, they can also be used to call for the importance of considering ES in national well-being accounting, and for going beyond GDP as a national welfare measure and policy goal.