Evaluation of the interactions of urban and rural communities with the natural capital of the upper part of the micro-basin of the Riachuelo de Zacapa river, Guatemala

Abstract

One way to evaluate the benefits and ecological and ecosystem value that human populations use is to study them from the concept of natural capital. The term natural capital is used to refer to the collection or set of renewable and non-renewable resources such as plants, animals, air, water, soils, minerals; which combine to provide a stream of benefits to humanity. This term can also be defined as the world pool of assets that include geology, soils, air, water, and all living things.

The term natural capital is an extension of the economic notion of capital of goods and services from the natural environment, it must be taken into account that ecosystems are open systems, which are connected at different levels and what happens at a local scale has implications or effects on a global scale and vice versa. The hypothesis was tested on the natural capitals that are used most frequently and their level of importance varies according to the location and social context along the Riachuelo River basin, in Zacapa, Zacapa. The five most important ecosystem goods and services for the community of Guadalupe, for example, were water, firewood, ocote (a by-product of Pinus maximinoi), peppermint, and large bee honey. In Pinalito they were water, firewood, sun, air, corn. In Zacapa, water, firewood, ocote, Apis mellifera honey and mint and in El Terrero, water, firewood, grass, mango and Apis mellifera honey. It should be noted that in all the communities visited, water is a very important good, as is firewood and ocote.