Land use changes, landscape ecology and their socioeconomic driving forces in the Spanish Mediterranean coast (the Maresme County, 1850-2005)

Lluis Parcerisas, Joan Marull, Joan Pino, Enric Tello, Francesc Coll and Corina Basnou
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Corina Basnou: Universitat de Barcelona

No 273, Working Papers in Economics from Universitat de Barcelona. Espai de Recerca en Economia

Abstract: We use a set of landscape metrics to study the long-term environmental transformation of a typical coastal Mediterranean area from 1850 to 2005. Our figures show a dramatic environmental deterioration between 1950 and 2005. The main proximate drivers of this landscape degradation are the effects of urban sprawl on former agricultural areas located in the coastal plains, together with the abandonment and reforestation of hilly slopes intercepted by low-density residential areas, highways, and other linear infrastructures. We carry out a statistical redundancy analysis (RDA) to identify certain ultimate socioeconomic and political drivers of these environmental impacts. The results confirm our interpretive hypothesis that: 1) land cover changes determine changes in landscape properties, both structural and functional; 2) these changes are not at random, but related to geographical endowments and socioeconomic or political drivers.

JEL-codes: N53 N54 O18 Q15 Q56 R14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 0 pages
Date: 2012
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-env, nep-tur and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (24)

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