Resumo:
Human well-being is directly related to the availability, in quantity and quality, of ecosystem services. However, the environmental variable, on several occasions, is not included in the planning processes and the environmental planning itself disregards the analysis of these services. An important vehicle for integrating ecosystem services into planning processes is the use of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), which can also improve the effectiveness of these assessments. Thus, the present dissertation seeks to evaluate the perspective of including the concept of ecosystem services in the SEA. Initially, important concepts and issues related to ecosystem services are presented and discussed. For the development of this proposed tool, a methodology was developed by the World Resources Institute (WRI), which defined a model for applying knowledge about ecosystem services in environmental assessments. Finally, based on the knowledge acquired and an application in the area of APA Bahia’s North Coast, using large hotel developments as a case study, it is empirically discussed how the use of this approach could improve the evaluation. From the results of this case study, different possibilities of approaches and the benefits obtained with the integration of this concept to the SEA were identified, establishing their validity and limitations. It was suggested a methodological proposal and the next steps to develop this line of research.
