Follow the flow: Analysis of relationships between water ecosystem service supply units and beneficiaries

A greater understanding of the complex relationships between ecosystem service (ES) supply and demand is needed to ensure a continuous and sustainable flow of ES in socioecological systems. While considerable progress has been made in ES flow mapping, further research is required to integrate benefi...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Garau, Enrica, Pueyo-Ros, Josep, Ribas Palom, Anna, Vila Subirós, Josep
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2021
País:España
Institución:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
Repositorio:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
OAI Identifier:oai:recercat.cat:10256/26025
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10256/26025
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Serveis ecosistèmics
Ecosystem services
Desenvolupament sostenible
Sustainable development
Descripción
Sumario:A greater understanding of the complex relationships between ecosystem service (ES) supply and demand is needed to ensure a continuous and sustainable flow of ES in socioecological systems. While considerable progress has been made in ES flow mapping, further research is required to integrate beneficiaries' perspectives into these analyses. In this study, we obtained data from stakeholders to analyze the characteristics and distribution of water ES (WES) flows from service production units to beneficiaries and vice versa in order to better understand the mechanisms of management and mobilization along the WES cascade. The study area is the Muga river basin located in northeast Catalonia, Spain. We used a combined methodology of participatory mapping in which stakeholders from the basin were asked to identify service production and benefiting units and semi-structured interviews to assess their perspectives. We found that WES flow patterns and number of beneficiaries varied according to WES category and detected spatial mismatches between supply and demand. A better understanding of ES flow patterns and spatial distribution of beneficiaries can help identify potential sources of conflict. It can also help understand the dynamics and power relationships between groups of stakeholders involved in the coproduction of ES