Protected Landscapes in Spain: Reasons for Protection and Sustainability of Conservation Management

Landscape conservation efforts in many European countries focus on cultural landscapes, which are part of the cultural identity of people, have a great heritage significance, improve the living standards of local populations and provide valuable cultural biodiversity. However, despite a wide arrange...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Marine, Nicolás, Arnaiz-Schmitz, Cecilia, Herrero-Jáuregui, Cristina, Cabrera, Manuel Rodrigo de la O, Escudero, David, Schmitz García, María Fe
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2020
País:España
Institución:Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)
Repositorio:Docta Complutense
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/7668
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/7668
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:574(460)
inside and outside protected areas
intensity of change
IUCN’s Category V
landscape structure
management effectiveness
rurality loss
spatial heterogeneity
spatial-temporal patterns
Ecología (Biología)
2401.06 Ecología animal
Descripción
Sumario:Landscape conservation efforts in many European countries focus on cultural landscapes, which are part of the cultural identity of people, have a great heritage significance, improve the living standards of local populations and provide valuable cultural biodiversity. However, despite a wide arrange of protective measures, the management of preserved areas is seldom effective for the protection of cultural landscapes. Through a multi-approach analysis, we characterise the main heritage attributes of 17 Protected Landscapes in Spain and assess their management effectiveness by quantifying the evolution of the spatial pattern inside and outside protected landscapes. Our method has proven useful to quantitatively describe the spatial-temporal patterns of change of the protected and unprotected landscapes studied. We highlight the following results: (i) the concepts of uniqueness and naturalness are not appropriate to preserve cultural landscapes; (ii) the land protection approach currently adopted is not useful for the protection of cultural landscapes, particularly of the most rural ones; (iii) the landscapes studied with greater rural features can be considered as “paper parks”. We recommend that different protection measures focused on the needs and desires of the rural population are taken into account in order to protect cultural landscapes that are shaped by traditional rural activities.