Law No. 9,985/2000 instituted the National System of Nature Conservation Units – SNUC with the concept that conservation units are territorial spaces and their respective natural resources that are protected due to their characteristics and relevance to the environment. In this perspective and with the objective of costing the planning and administration of these spaces, Article 36 of the aforementioned legal diploma instituted environmental compensation, as a form of pecuniary obligation to entrepreneurs who cause significant environmental impact in the manner described in the study of environmental impacts – EIA/RIMA. Thus, the main objective of this research was to analyze the payment of environmental compensation in the State of Pernambuco, Brazil, with the focus of contributing to the improvement of this important instrument of viability of nature conservation units. The methodology used in this research was the bibliographic review and documentary analysis; at the first moment, we systematically sought to survey environmental standards related to environmental compensation and conservation units, later, studies were conducted in doctrine, articles and jurisprudence related to the subject and finally, collection of information in the databases of government agencies of the State of Pernambuco in order to seek answers on the subject, also, we sought to know the application of the resources arising from environmental compensation in the State of Pernambuco with the control and inspection agencies, such as; The State Prosecutor's Office, The State Environment Agency - CPRH and the State Court of Auditors. Thus, for a better understanding of the theme, this research was divided into two parts; the first refers to the institute of environmental compensation; concepts and general principles of environmental law, later illustrated the moment in which compensation takes place, that is, in environmental licensing and the second stage of the research brought the study of conservation units, legal basis, typology and objectives. As results obtained, it was observed that in Pernambuco, of the 90 existing conservation units only 16 have a management plan, a basic document for the management of The Unities of C onservação, which makes it difficult to apply the resources of environmental compensation and also that there is no transparency in the management of the environmental compensation fund by the CPRH, knowing only that the number of employees of the aforementioned agency is insufficient for the effective management of the U c onservation. It is concluded before the collected data that there is a contradiction between the large values captured through environmental compensation and their effective application in the Unities of Conservação. Finally, it is suggested the participation of other actors of society as a way to give greater fluidity and speed in the application of the environmental compensation fund in nature conservation units.