Coastal Scenic Beauty and Sensitivity at the Balearic Islands, Spain: Implication of Natural and Human Factors

Coastal areas globally are facing a significant range of environmental stresses, enhanced by climate change-related processes and a continuous increase of human activities. The economic benefits of tourism are well-known for coastal regions, but, very often, conflicts arise between short-term benefits and long-term conservation goals. Among beach user preferences, five parameters of greater importance stand out from the rest, i.e., safety, facilities, water quality, litter and scenery; the latter is the main concern of this study. A coastal scenic evaluation was carried out in the Balearic Islands and focused on two major issues: coastal scenic beauty together with sensitivity to natural processes and human pressure. The archipelago is renowned as a top international coastal tourist destination that receives more than 13.5 million visitors (2019). Impressive landscape diversity makes the Balearics Islands an ideal field for this research. In total, 52 sites, respectively located in Ibiza (11), Formentera (5), Mallorca (18) and Menorca (18), were field-tested. In a first step, coastal scenic beauty was quantified using the coastal scenic evaluation system (CSES) method, based on the evaluation of 26 physical and human parameters, and using weighting matrices parameters and fuzzy logic mathematics. An evaluation index (“D”) was obtained for each site, allowing one to classify them in one of the five scenic classes established by the method. Twenty-nine sites were included in class I, corresponding to extremely attractive sites (CSES), which were mainly observed in Menorca. Several sound measures were proposed to maintain and/or enhance sites’ scenic value. In a second step, scenic sensitivity was evaluated using a novel methodological approach that makes possible the assessment of three different coastal scenic sensitivity indexes (CSSI), i.e., the natural sensitivity index NSI, the human sensitivity index HSI and the total sensitivity index TSI. Future climate change trends and projection of tourism development, studied at municipality scale, were considered as correction factors. All the islands showed places highly sensitive to environmental processes, while sensitivity to human pressure was essentially observed at Ibiza and Mallorca. Thereafter, sites were categorized into one of three sensitive groups established by the methodology. Results obtained are useful in pointing out very sensitive sceneries as well as limiting, preventing and/or anticipating future scenic degradation linked to natural and human issues.

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Potential Economic Benefits of Adapting Agricultural Production Systems to Future Climate Change

Environmental Management ◽

10.1007/s00267-010-9427-0 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 45 (3) ◽

pp. 577-589 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Tony Prato ◽

Qiu Zeyuan ◽

Gregory Pederson ◽

Dan Fagre ◽

Lindsey E. Bengtson ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Agricultural Production ◽

Production Systems ◽

Economic Benefits ◽

Future Climate ◽

Future Climate Change ◽

Agricultural Production Systems

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Anthropogenic carbon dynamics in the changing ocean

Ocean Science Discussions ◽

10.5194/osd-7-391-2010 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 7 (2) ◽

pp. 391-415

Author(s):

J. F. Tjiputra ◽

K. Assmann ◽

C. Heinze

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Southern Ocean ◽

High Latitude ◽

Future Climate Change ◽

Carbon Uptake ◽

Continuous Increase ◽

Carbon Cycle Model ◽

Anthropogenic Carbon ◽

Natural Carbon

Abstract. Long-term response of CO2 fluxes to climate change at the ocean surface and the ocean interior are investigated using a coupled climate-carbon cycle model. This study also presents the first attempt in quantifying the evolution of lateral transport of anthropogenic carbon under future climate change. Additionally, its impact on regional carbon storage and uptake are also evaluated. For the 1850–2100 period, our climate change simulation predicts oceanic uptake of anthropogenic carbon of about 538 Pg C. Another simulation indicates that changes in physical climate alone results in a release of natural carbon of about 22 Pg C. The natural carbon outgassing is attributed to the reduction in solubility and change in wind pattern in the Southern Hemisphere. After the anthropogenic carbon passes through the air-sea interface, it is predominantly transported along the large scale overturning circulation below the surface layer. The spatial variations in the transport patterns in turn influence the evolution of future regional carbon uptake. In the North Atlantic, a slow down in Atlantic Meridional Overturnning Circulation weakens the penetration strength of anthropogenic carbon into the deeper ocean, which leads to the reduced uptake rate in this region. In contrast, more than half of the anthropogenic carbon taken up in the high latitude Southern Ocean region (south of 58° S) are efficiently and continuously exported northward, predominantly into intermediate waters. This peculiar transport mechanism allow continuous increase in future carbon uptake in the high latitude Southern Ocean, where the annual uptake strength could reach 3.5 g C m−2 yr−1, nearly triple the global mean of 1.3 g C m−2 yr−1 by the end of the 21st century. Our study further underlines the key role of the Southern Ocean in controlling long-term future carbon uptake.

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An Innovative Approach to Determine Coastal Scenic Beauty and Sensitivity in a Scenario of Increasing Human Pressure and Natural Impacts due to Climate Change

Water ◽

10.3390/w13010049 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

pp. 49

Author(s):

Alexis Mooser ◽

Giorgio Anfuso ◽

Allan T. Williams ◽

Rosa Molina ◽

Pietro P. C. Aucelli

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Evaluation System ◽

Management Strategies ◽

Mediterranean Coast ◽

Tidal Range ◽

Sensitivity Index ◽

Human Pressure ◽

Anthropogenic Pressures ◽

Natural Processes ◽

Sustainable Usage

Coasts worldwide face a great variety of environmental impacts, as well as increased anthropogenic pressures due to urbanization and rapid population growth. Human activities menace ecosystem services and the economy of coastal countries, often based on “Sun, Sea and Sand” (3S) tourism. The five parameters of greatest importance (the “Big Five”) for beach visitors are safety, facilities, water quality, no litter and scenery, and the characterization of the latter was recently carried out by means of a checklist of 26 natural and human parameters, parameter weighting matrices and fuzzy logic, according to the “Coastal Scenic Evaluation System” (CSES) methodology. In order to propose sound coastal management strategies, the main aim of this paper is to propose a method to determine the scenic sensitivity of (i) natural parameters to coastal natural processes in a Climate Change context and (ii) human parameters to visitors’ pressure in a scenario of increasing tourism and coastal developments. Regarding natural parameters, the sensitivity of “Beach face” and “Dunes” parameters is determined according to an Erodibility Index with a Correction Factor, taking into account wave forcing characteristics, tidal range and trends at a local scale of Sea Level Rise and Storm Surge. This establishes a Sensitivity Index to natural processes. A site’s scenic sensitivity to human pressure/activities was determined by considering the sensitivity of several human parameters of the CSES method according to beach typology and access difficulty together with the Protection Area Management Category to which a site belongs. A Human Impact Index is obtained, which is afterwards corrected by taking into account local trends of tourism pressure, establishing a Sensitivity Index to human pressure. Finally, a total Sensitivity Index considering both natural processes and human pressure is obtained, and sites divided into three sensitive groups. The results can be useful to limit and prevent environmental degradation linked to natural processes and tourism development, and also to suggest measures to improve the scenic value of investigated sites and their sustainable usage. The method was tested for 29 sites of great scenic quality along the Mediterranean coast of Andalusia, Spain.

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Spatial and Temporal Downscaling of Atmospheric Components from GCMs for Historical Reconstruction and/or for Future Climate Change Study

World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2012 ◽

10.1061/9780784412312.198 ◽

2012 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

S. Kure ◽

S. Jang ◽

N. Ohara ◽

M. L. Kavvas ◽

G. Matanga ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Future Climate ◽

Future Climate Change ◽

Historical Reconstruction ◽

Climate Change Study

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What we can learn from the parallels between the COVID-19 and the future climate change crises

10.32942/osf.io/eg6hr ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Rubén D. Manzanedo ◽

Peter Manning

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Global Economy ◽

Global Climate ◽

Future Climate Change ◽

Substantial Portion ◽

Preventative Measures ◽

The Future ◽

Behavioral Norm ◽

Climate Crisis ◽

Global Population

The ongoing COVID-19 outbreak pandemic is now a global crisis. It has caused 1.6+ million confirmed cases and 100 000+ deaths at the time of writing and triggered unprecedented preventative measures that have put a substantial portion of the global population under confinement, imposed isolation, and established ‘social distancing’ as a new global behavioral norm. The COVID-19 crisis has affected all aspects of everyday life and work, while also threatening the health of the global economy. This crisis offers also an unprecedented view of what the global climate crisis may look like. In fact, some of the parallels between the COVID-19 crisis and what we expect from the looming global climate emergency are remarkable. Reflecting upon the most challenging aspects of today’s crisis and how they compare with those expected from the climate change emergency may help us better prepare for the future.

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