Sustainability in the trans-border regions? The case of Andalusia - Algarve

José Andrés Domínguez, Teresa de Noronha and Eric de Noronha Vaz

International Journal of Global Environmental Issues, 2015, vol. 14, issue 1/2, 151-163

Abstract: The goal of this work is to detect the basic characteristics of the development of the southern border between Spain and Portugal. This trans-border area is described and analysed comparing the region of Algarve, in Portugal and the region of the County, in Huelva, Spain. The method used 15 quantitative indicators, desegregated at municipal level, obtained from different official sources and applied to 30 municipalities. The analysis includes multivariate statistic methods. The conclusions show that those indicators related to national governance systems are of utmost importance in the cluster classification. Furthermore, those municipalities with higher development levels are also less sustainable from the environmental point of view - this is probably due to the fact that tourism supports the fragile socio-economic systems in many of such regions. Significantly, the clustering tendencies show that the Portuguese municipalities are tourism oriented (or less tourism oriented) and the Spanish ones are agri-business (or less agribusiness oriented). Lastly, such geographic structures seem to have its roots in long term paths of development.

Keywords: sustainable development; Spain; Portugal; trans-border regions; sustainability; Andalusia; Algarve; national governance; cluster classification; socio-economic systems; municipalities; tourism; agribusiness; regional development. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ids:ijgenv:v:14:y:2015:i:1/2:p:151-163

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