Researchers of the National Museum of Natural Sciences (MNCN) and the Experimental Station of Arid Areas (EENS), both of the CSIC, have just evaluated the effectiveness of the Natura 2000 network on the conservation status of the land cover. This network of protected spaces, shared at European level, seeks to protect the environment, promote sustainable development by braking the decline of biodiversity. The results of this research, which includes the analysis of almost 600 samples, demonstrate that, in general, the condition of the Earth shows a better state within this network compared to other unprotected places. However, the analysis also reveals variations in this effectiveness, attending to the region in which we are. The research proposes measures that are specified in promoting sustainable management measures and conservation also in the unpotected territories that surround the Natura 2000 network.
The analysis, carried out through the standardized relative severity index (SER), allows to quantify the ground of the soil and compare protected areas with those that are not. For this work they have used 596 places of community importance of the Natura 2000 Network and have compared them with similar areas that are not part of the network. «To obtain a complete vision of the situation we have disaggregated the analysis in the management units, the autonomous communities. This has allowed to explore the differences considered both biophysical factors, for example, lifting or tree coverage, as well as the effect of human presence through its footprint, ”explains MNCN researcher Mario Mingarro.
At the national level, the Natura 2000 Network seems to meet the conservation objectives, but this protective capacity differs in each autonomous community, reaching very low scores of the index in some cases. In addition, it points directly to the management units and the results suggest that the Natura 2000 Network is much more efficient in the Region of Murcia or La Rioja than in Asturias or Andalusia. These autonomous differences may be due to the intrinsic characteristics of each unit or the management capacity of said network. For example, in the Atlantic region, in communities such as Galicia, Asturias and Cantabria, the ground conditions outside the network show in some cases a better condition. “The traditional management of grasslands, which have tried to protect themselves with the Natura 2000 Network, could have a negative effect on the quality of the land, and more when this evaluation is carried out with products derived from remote sensing,” says the researcher of the EEZA Gabriel in the neighborhood.
The Iberian Peninsula is a diverse territory, so conservation strategies must adapt to the particularities and threats of each autonomous community. «Without a doubt, the Natura 2000 Network plays a key role in soil conservation and the protection of biodiversity, but, to guarantee the effectiveness of its measures, it is essential that the management considers the specificities of each region. It is curious that the Region of Murcia, a community where degradation has been approaching less deterioration than other communities such as Cantabria, ”says Milagarro.
The study proposes various actions, such as ecological restoration in degraded areas of the Mediterranean, the sustainable management of grasslands in the north and the strengthening of agro -environmental practices according to regional conditions. However, the true long -term challenge is that the effectiveness of the Natura 2000 network – as well as any system of protected areas – will be compromised if sustainable and conservation management is not promoted in non -protected territories. «It is crucial to recognize that management in protected areas must respond to the specific environmental threats of each region. For example, in the Mediterranean zone, the degradation of the territory is more pronounced due to factors such as extreme aridity and greater human pressure. ”It concludes mastery.
The methodology used
The methodology used, called 2DRUE measures telecing, precipitation and aridity variables and obtains as a result the state in which the soil is located with respect to the reference state that should house. This low-cost methodology, developed in the EENS-CSIC, is based on the use of public data such as satellite images and meteorological stations that, after a complex computational machinery, offers the user contrastable maps on land degradation. In this way, it is possible to understand how the states of condition of the Earth, referring to ecological maturity in terms of energy flow through ecosystems, are far from their reference state.
The first essay was carried out in the Iberian Peninsula and, after the results, has been adopted by the Spanish and Portuguese governments to monitor and improve the condition of ecosystems. It has also been used in the Maghreb, Sahel, Mozambique and the Brazilian Northeast, and is currently being used throughout China, in addition to having been included in the World Desertification Atlas (
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