Biodiversity and ecosystem services in European cultural landscapes

Mallorca keeps an age-old biocultural heritage embodied in their appealing landscapes, largely exploited as an intangible tourist asset. Although hotel and real estate investors ignore or despise the peasant families who still persevere in farming amidst this worldwide-known tourist hotspot, the Balearic Autonomous Government has recently started a pay-for-ecosystem-services scheme based on the tourist eco-tax collection that offers grants to farmers that keep the Majorcan cultural landscapes alive, while a growing number of them have turned organic. How has this peasant heritage survived within such a global tourist capitalist economy? We answer this question by explaining the socio-ecological transition experienced from the failure of agrarian capitalism in the island, and the ensuing peasantization process during the first half of the 20th century through a local banking-driven and market-oriented land reform. Then, the early tourist specialization during the second half of the 20th century and the spatial concentration of the Green Revolution only in certain areas of the island meant a deep marginalization of peasant farming. Ironically, only a smallholder peasantry could keep cultivating these sustenance-oriented marginal areas where traditional farming was partially maintained and is currently being reinvigorated by turning organic. Now the preservation of these biocultural landscapes, and the keeping of the ecosystem services it provides to Majorcan society, requires keeping this peasantry alive.

Download Full-text

Limitations of Protected Areas Zoning in Mediterranean Cultural Landscapes Under the Ecosystem Services Approach

Ecosystems ◽

10.1007/s10021-014-9788-y ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 17 (7) ◽

pp. 1202-1215 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

Ignacio Palomo ◽

Berta Martín-López ◽

Paloma Alcorlo ◽

Carlos Montes

Keyword(s):

Ecosystem Services ◽

Protected Areas ◽

Cultural Landscapes

Download Full-text

Assessing urban recreation ecosystem services through the use of geocache visitation and preference data: a case-study from an urbanised island environment

One Ecosystem ◽

10.3897/oneeco.3.e24490 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 3 ◽

pp. e24490 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Mario V Balzan ◽

Iain Debono

Keyword(s):

Ecosystem Services ◽

Spatial Data ◽

Green Infrastructure ◽

Ecosystem Service ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Cultural Landscapes ◽

Stated Preference ◽

Urban Environments ◽

Cultural Ecosystem Service ◽

Direct And Indirect Benefits

Recreation is an important cultural ecosystem service and is one way in which communities experience the direct and indirect benefits arising from the experiential use of their environment. The recent rise in popularity of Global Positioning System (GPS) game applications, which combine information technology with an activity that increases mobility and encourages outdoor enjoyment, provides ecosystem service practitioners with an opportunity to make use of this georeferenced data to assess recreational ecosystem services. Geocaching is one such worldwide outdoor game. It has fixed points of incursion where people can hide and look for caches. This study explores the possibility of using geocaching data as a proxy for recreational ecosystems services in the Maltese Islands. A quantitative analysis of the georeferenced caches was used together with their visit rates and number of favourite points. This was supplemented by two questionnaires that investigated the preferences and experiences of both geocache placers (n=39) and hunters (n=21). Results show that the highest number of caches were placed and searched for in urban areas and that geocaching is strongly associated with the presence and accessibility of urban green infrastructure. The number of geocachers who stated preference for experiences in nature did not translate into high visit rates to sites of high conservation value (protected areas) but landscape value was significantly associated with recreational ecosystem services flow. The results presented here provide evidence that geocaching spatial data can act as an indicator for assessing and mapping recreational ecosystem services in urban environments and in cultural landscapes.

Download Full-text

Providing Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services through Common Pool Resource Management as Hybrid Institution: On Eco-Net Advances and Payments for ESS in Cultural Landscapes

Natural Resources ◽

10.4236/nr.2017.87031 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 08 (07) ◽

pp. 478-512

Author(s):

Ernst-August Nuppenau

Keyword(s):

Ecosystem Services ◽

Resource Management ◽

Cultural Landscapes ◽

Common Pool Resource ◽

Common Pool

Download Full-text

Sustaining ecosystem services in cultural landscapes

Ecology and Society ◽

10.5751/es-06159-190259 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 19 (2) ◽

Cited By ~ 60

Author(s):

Tobias Plieninger ◽

Dan van der Horst ◽

Christian Schleyer ◽

Claudia Bieling

Keyword(s):

Ecosystem Services ◽

Cultural Landscapes

Download Full-text

Probabilistic modeling of the relationship between socioeconomy and ecosystem services in cultural landscapes

Ecosystem Services ◽

10.1016/j.ecoser.2018.04.007 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 33 ◽

pp. 146-164 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

A.D. Maldonado ◽

P.A. Aguilera ◽

A. Salmerón ◽

A.E. Nicholson

Keyword(s):

Ecosystem Services ◽

Cultural Landscapes ◽

Probabilistic Modeling ◽

The Relationship

Download Full-text

Obstacles and options for the design and implementation of payment schemes for ecosystem services provided through farm trees in Saxony, Germany

Environmental Conservation ◽

10.1017/s0376892911000361 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 38 (4) ◽

pp. 454-463 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

CHRISTIAN SCHLEYER ◽

TOBIAS PLIENINGER

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Ecosystem Services ◽

Land Tenure ◽

Institutional Economics ◽

Cultural Landscapes ◽

Spatial Arrangement ◽

Production Costs ◽

Payment Schemes ◽

High Production ◽

Societal Preferences

SUMMARYAgricultural crops and pasturelands cover 24–38% of the global land area, and thus the ecological services that agricultural systems provide are of utmost societal importance. An important determinant of ecosystem services provision from European farmland is the amount and spatial arrangement of trees, shrubs and woodlands that are integrated into the respective land-use systems. This paper uses an institutional economics framework for the analysis of payment schemes for ecosystem services (PES schemes) that enhance the establishment, conservation and management of farm trees and woodlands, elaborating on the reasons for the often very reluctant participation of farmers in these schemes. PES schemes in Saxony (Germany) were selected as a typical example. Obstacles identified included high production costs and opportunity costs for land use, contractual uncertainties, land-tenure implications and heterogeneous societal preferences for ecosystem services of farm trees. Further, since scheme adoption has been relatively low compared with the total area covered by the respective farm tree types in Saxony, the PES schemes alone could not explain the substantial increase in number and size of some farm-tree types, in particular hedgerows. Regionalized premiums, result-oriented remuneration and cooperative approaches are options to improve participation in PES schemes for farm trees. The example of PES schemes for farm trees highlights one of the major challenges for the protection and preservation of cultural landscapes: they are man-made and thus need to be preserved, managed and maintained continuously.

Download Full-text

Social Valuation of Mediterranean Cultural Landscapes: Exploring Landscape Preferences and Ecosystem Services Perceptions through a Visual Approach

Land ◽

10.3390/land9100390 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 (10) ◽

pp. 390

Author(s):

Íñigo Bidegain ◽

César A. López-Santiago ◽

José A. González ◽

Rodrigo Martínez-Sastre ◽

Federica Ravera ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Ecosystem Services ◽

Cultural Landscape ◽

Cultural Landscapes ◽

Landscape Planning ◽

Pine Plantations ◽

Mediterranean Forests ◽

Clear Preference ◽

Sierra Morena ◽

Trade Offs ◽

Related Group

Mediterranean cultural landscapes have been recognized as multifunctional landscapes that are currently threatened by two opposing trends: rural abandonment and agricultural intensification. Uncovering people’s perceptions of different landscape configurations, and how inhabitants value the contributions of nature to human wellbeing, is essential to understanding current landscape trends. In this study, we analyze the social perception of the cultural landscapes of Sierra Morena (Andalusia, Spain) based on 389 face-to-face visual questionnaires in an attempt to understand individuals’ landscape preferences, the reasons behind those preferences and how those landscapes are perceived as suppliers of ecosystem services by different groups of stakeholders. Four groups of stakeholders were identified that differed in how they perceive and value the cultural landscape. An urban-related group was characterized by their preferences for pine plantations and “green” landscapes, guided mostly by aesthetic criteria. A livestock-related group showed a clear preference for wood–pasture landscapes (dehesas) due to their ability to supply multiple ecosystem services. An environmentally aware group showed preferences for dehesas and Mediterranean forests, mainly guided by ecological criteria. Finally, an olive-related group showed a clear preference for olive grove landscapes as key for the regional economy and their cultural identity. Overall, the local inhabitants of Sierra Morena perceived a higher supply of ecosystem services in moderately disturbed landscapes, such as dehesas and mosaic landscapes, than in highly disturbed ones, such as conventional olive groves and pine plantations, or in less used landscapes, such as the Mediterranean forest. Understanding the differences in valuation/demand for ecosystem services among groups of stakeholders, characterized by their landscape preferences, provides important information with which to identify potential trade-offs and conflicts, thereby providing insights into the improvement of landscape planning and decision making.

Download Full-text