Impacts of use and abuse of nature in Catalona with proposal for sustainable management

This paper provides an overview of the last 40 years of use, and in many cases abuse, of the natural resources in Catalonia, a country that is representative of European countries in general, and especially those in the Mediterranean region. It analyses the use of natural resources made by mining, a...

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Autores: Blanché i Vergés, Cèsar, Bonada i Caparrós, Núria, Sostoa Fernández, Adolfo de, Gosàlbez i Noguera, Joaquim, Llorente, Gustavo A., Martín Vide, Javier, Montori, Albert, Prat i Fornells, Narcís, Pujol Buxó, Eudald, Roca Pascual, Núria, Rodríguez Teijeiro, José Domingo, Sauras Yera, Teresa, Romanyà i Socoró, Joan, Serrat, David, 1949-, Vallejo, V. Ramón (Victoriano Ramón), Vilaplana, Joan Manuel, Vinyoles Cartanyà, Dolors
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
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:2445/176260
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2445/176260
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Recursos naturals
Explotació forestal
Natural resources
Lumbering
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spelling Impacts of use and abuse of nature in Catalona with proposal for sustainable managementBlanché i Vergés, CèsarBonada i Caparrós, NúriaSostoa Fernández, Adolfo deGosàlbez i Noguera, JoaquimLlorente, Gustavo A.Martín Vide, JavierMontori, AlbertPrat i Fornells, NarcísPujol Buxó, EudaldRoca Pascual, NúriaRodríguez Teijeiro, José DomingoSauras Yera, TeresaRomanyà i Socoró, JoanSerrat, David, 1949-Vallejo, V. Ramón (Victoriano Ramón)Vilaplana, Joan ManuelVinyoles Cartanyà, DolorsRecursos naturalsExplotació forestalNatural resourcesLumberingThis paper provides an overview of the last 40 years of use, and in many cases abuse, of the natural resources in Catalonia, a country that is representative of European countries in general, and especially those in the Mediterranean region. It analyses the use of natural resources made by mining, agriculture, livestock, logging, fishing, nature tourism, and energy production and consumption. This use results in an ecological footprint, i.e., the productive land and sea surface required to generate the consumed resources and absorb the resulting waste, which is about seven times the amount available, a very high number but very similar to other European countries. This overexploitation of natural resources has a huge impact on land and its different forms of cover, air, and water. For the last 25 years, forests and urban areas have each gained almost 3% more of the territory at the expense of agricultural land; those municipalities bordering the sea have increased their number of inhabitants and activity, and although they only occupy 6.7% of the total surface area, they account for 43.3% of the population; air quality has stabilized since the turn of the century, and there has been some improvement in the state of aquatic ecosystems, but still only 36% are in good condition, while the remainder have suffered morphological changes and different forms of nonpoint source pollution; meanwhile the biodiversity of flora and fauna remains still under threat. Environmental policies do not go far enough so there is a need for revision of the legislation related to environmental impact and the protection of natural areas, flora, and fauna. The promotion of environmental research must be accompanied by environmental education to foster a society which is more knowledgeable, has more control and influence over the decisions that deeply affect it. Indeed, nature conservation goes hand in hand with other social and economic challenges that require a more sustainable vision. Today's problems with nature derive from the current economic model, which is environmentally unsustainable in that it does not take into account environmental impacts. Lastly, we propose a series of reasonable and feasible priority measures and actions related to each use made of the country's natural resources, to the impacts they have had, and to their management, in the hope that these can contribute to improving the conservation and management of the environment and biodiversity and move towards sustainability.MDPI2021202120212021info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion53 p.application/pdfhttps://hdl.handle.net/2445/176260Articles publicats en revistes (Biologia Evolutiva, Ecologia i Ciències Ambientals)reponame:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunyainstname:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)InglésReproducció del document publicat a: https://doi.org/10.3390/land10020144Land, 2021, vol. 10, num. 2, p. 144https://doi.org/10.3390/land10020144cc-by (c) Blanché i Vergés, Cèsar et al., 2021http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/esinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:recercat.cat:2445/1762602026-05-29T05:05:01Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Impacts of use and abuse of nature in Catalona with proposal for sustainable management
title Impacts of use and abuse of nature in Catalona with proposal for sustainable management
spellingShingle Impacts of use and abuse of nature in Catalona with proposal for sustainable management
Blanché i Vergés, Cèsar
Recursos naturals
Explotació forestal
Natural resources
Lumbering
title_short Impacts of use and abuse of nature in Catalona with proposal for sustainable management
title_full Impacts of use and abuse of nature in Catalona with proposal for sustainable management
title_fullStr Impacts of use and abuse of nature in Catalona with proposal for sustainable management
title_full_unstemmed Impacts of use and abuse of nature in Catalona with proposal for sustainable management
title_sort Impacts of use and abuse of nature in Catalona with proposal for sustainable management
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Blanché i Vergés, Cèsar
Bonada i Caparrós, Núria
Sostoa Fernández, Adolfo de
Gosàlbez i Noguera, Joaquim
Llorente, Gustavo A.
Martín Vide, Javier
Montori, Albert
Prat i Fornells, Narcís
Pujol Buxó, Eudald
Roca Pascual, Núria
Rodríguez Teijeiro, José Domingo
Sauras Yera, Teresa
Romanyà i Socoró, Joan
Serrat, David, 1949-
Vallejo, V. Ramón (Victoriano Ramón)
Vilaplana, Joan Manuel
Vinyoles Cartanyà, Dolors
author Blanché i Vergés, Cèsar
author_facet Blanché i Vergés, Cèsar
Bonada i Caparrós, Núria
Sostoa Fernández, Adolfo de
Gosàlbez i Noguera, Joaquim
Llorente, Gustavo A.
Martín Vide, Javier
Montori, Albert
Prat i Fornells, Narcís
Pujol Buxó, Eudald
Roca Pascual, Núria
Rodríguez Teijeiro, José Domingo
Sauras Yera, Teresa
Romanyà i Socoró, Joan
Serrat, David, 1949-
Vallejo, V. Ramón (Victoriano Ramón)
Vilaplana, Joan Manuel
Vinyoles Cartanyà, Dolors
author_role author
author2 Bonada i Caparrós, Núria
Sostoa Fernández, Adolfo de
Gosàlbez i Noguera, Joaquim
Llorente, Gustavo A.
Martín Vide, Javier
Montori, Albert
Prat i Fornells, Narcís
Pujol Buxó, Eudald
Roca Pascual, Núria
Rodríguez Teijeiro, José Domingo
Sauras Yera, Teresa
Romanyà i Socoró, Joan
Serrat, David, 1949-
Vallejo, V. Ramón (Victoriano Ramón)
Vilaplana, Joan Manuel
Vinyoles Cartanyà, Dolors
author2_role author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Recursos naturals
Explotació forestal
Natural resources
Lumbering
topic Recursos naturals
Explotació forestal
Natural resources
Lumbering
description This paper provides an overview of the last 40 years of use, and in many cases abuse, of the natural resources in Catalonia, a country that is representative of European countries in general, and especially those in the Mediterranean region. It analyses the use of natural resources made by mining, agriculture, livestock, logging, fishing, nature tourism, and energy production and consumption. This use results in an ecological footprint, i.e., the productive land and sea surface required to generate the consumed resources and absorb the resulting waste, which is about seven times the amount available, a very high number but very similar to other European countries. This overexploitation of natural resources has a huge impact on land and its different forms of cover, air, and water. For the last 25 years, forests and urban areas have each gained almost 3% more of the territory at the expense of agricultural land; those municipalities bordering the sea have increased their number of inhabitants and activity, and although they only occupy 6.7% of the total surface area, they account for 43.3% of the population; air quality has stabilized since the turn of the century, and there has been some improvement in the state of aquatic ecosystems, but still only 36% are in good condition, while the remainder have suffered morphological changes and different forms of nonpoint source pollution; meanwhile the biodiversity of flora and fauna remains still under threat. Environmental policies do not go far enough so there is a need for revision of the legislation related to environmental impact and the protection of natural areas, flora, and fauna. The promotion of environmental research must be accompanied by environmental education to foster a society which is more knowledgeable, has more control and influence over the decisions that deeply affect it. Indeed, nature conservation goes hand in hand with other social and economic challenges that require a more sustainable vision. Today's problems with nature derive from the current economic model, which is environmentally unsustainable in that it does not take into account environmental impacts. Lastly, we propose a series of reasonable and feasible priority measures and actions related to each use made of the country's natural resources, to the impacts they have had, and to their management, in the hope that these can contribute to improving the conservation and management of the environment and biodiversity and move towards sustainability.
publishDate 2021
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2021
2021
2021
2021
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://hdl.handle.net/2445/176260
url https://hdl.handle.net/2445/176260
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv Reproducció del document publicat a: https://doi.org/10.3390/land10020144
Land, 2021, vol. 10, num. 2, p. 144
https://doi.org/10.3390/land10020144
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv cc-by (c) Blanché i Vergés, Cèsar et al., 2021
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv cc-by (c) Blanché i Vergés, Cèsar et al., 2021
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv 53 p.
application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv MDPI
publisher.none.fl_str_mv MDPI
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv Articles publicats en revistes (Biologia Evolutiva, Ecologia i Ciències Ambientals)
reponame:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
instname:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
instname_str Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
reponame_str Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
collection Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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