Environmental government agencies are being questioned regarding the costs and benefits of their annual monetary budgets to maintain conservation areas as the Peri Lake Municipal Park, Santa Catarina Island, Santa Catarina State, Brazil. While goods and services that support visitation are relatively easy to account, other less tangible environmental services, such as medicinal products, climate control, and biodiversity, can be quite difficult to be valued.
Social benefits from these environmental services and the natural capital from which they flow are often not evaluated. In this program, we apply methods of systems ecology to evaluate the natural capital, the role of the Neotropical otter, and the Neotropical Otter Project in the Peri Lake Municipal Park. All subprojects aim to evaluate natural capital and environmental services, including economic costs and benefits, and societal and environmental non-market assets and values. We believe that, to protect the Neotropical otter, we need to show the importance the species has to the environment and to society. The work requires many activities to collect data in the field and to help with the social mobilization and environmental education activities.
Activities include treks through the Atlantic Forest and dunes, use of canoes and kayaks around the lake. Depending on the weather, fieldwork may be done by kayaking or trekking, and it will include analysis of the otter’s frequency at the shelters, monitoring of nests, ethological studies and food habits. It is very difficult to spot otters and most of the work is made through registering signs.
The project is also an Otter Conservation Breeding Sanctuary. You will be helping the staff with cleaning, feeding and playing with the orphans the project keeps in captivity. Some lab work might be involved. Although based at Peri Lake, you will be able to make short visits to the other study areas where you will always be accompanied by experienced staff.
Ecovolunteers take part in all activities they like. Work starts at 8:00 in the morning, feeding the animal and cleaning their places. The same work is done at the end of the afternoon. Some research is performed with the animals in captivity, such as behavior studies. Our staff will assist the ecovolunteer all the time. Fieldwork follows a special schedule that keeps the different research projects and monitoring updated. During the weekends the activities are only feeding the otters and ecovolunteers are free to know the island. Our working time: Monday to Friday from 08:00 to 12:00 hs and from 14:00 to 17:30 hs. Saturday from 08:00 to 12:00. Sunday we are closed.
