FINANCIANDO O ÉDEN: POTENCIAL ECONÔMICO E LIMITAÇÕES DA COMPENSAÇÃO AMBIENTAL PREVISTA NA LEI DO SISTEMA NACIONAL DE UNIDADES DE CONSERVAÇÃO DA NATUREZA FINANCING THE EDEN: ECONOMIC POTENTIAL AND LIMITATIONS OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL COMPENSATION INCLUDED IN THE LAW OF THE NATIONAL SYSTEM OF NATURE CONSERVATION UNITS

1 ABSTRACT The objective of this paper is to estimate the financial resources derived from the environmental compensation include in the Law of the National System of Nature Conservation Units (SNUC, in Portuguese). The importance of this tool to the economic sustainability of the conservation units is evaluated, as well as its economic potential, estimated through simulations based on investment scenarios. The results showed that the environmental compensation has great potential to provide resources for the SNUC, contributing for its maintenance, improvement and enlargement. However, one can also expect serious problems as an outcome of its application, indicating that we are still very far from a satisfactory way for its institutionalization.