Economic valuation of environmental impacts as consequence of changes in land use in arid zones

Abstract

The Metropolitan Area of Mendoza is the scene of a disorganized urban expansion that produces land transformations, generating environmental costs, but without considering them in decision-making. It seeks to develop, within the life cycle analysis, tools that allow economic assessment of said impact and internalization of its environmental cost. The Metropolitan Area of Luján de Cuyo is proposed as a case study to analyze the real estate offer and to know the determining factors of the price of the land. Then, the environmental impacts due to the urbanization and transformation of the soil are valued. The results show that, since this ecosystem service is not considered in the price of the land, its value is underestimated, which encourages this form of urban growth. The identification of the functional form in which prices are formed, together with the calculation of impacts, allows the generation of tools that internalize their environmental cost.