La valoración económica ambiental como instrumento para el diseño de políticas públicas sostenibles en Ecuador

Abstract

Abstract: Environmental economic valuation is a key instrument for integrating the environmental dimension into the design of public policies aimed at sustainability. This study contributes to making the costs and benefits of natural resources and ecosystem services more transparent, strengthening decision-making and improving the efficiency of public spending from a sustainable development perspective. Through a qualitative methodology based on normative, documentary, and institutional analysis, the incorporation of environmental economic valuation within the Ecuadorian constitutional context is examined. The results show that despite the constitutional recognition of the rights of nature and the principle of sustainability, the implementation of environmental economic valuation as an instrument in the public policy cycle is still incipient and fragmented, revealing weak institutional articulation and limited use of economic instruments in planning processes. It is demonstrated that the systematic integration of economic valuation can contribute to more efficient resource allocation, more equitable policies, and a balance between economic, social, and environmental dimensions.