Proposal of a System for Assessment of the Sustainability of Municipalities (Sasmu) Included in the Spanish Network of National Parks and Their Surroundings

Abstract

It is usually considered that Protected Areas (PAs) are an efficient tool for policies to conserve biodiversity. However, there is evidence that some pressures and threats arise from processes taking place both inside them and in their surroundings territories—habitat loss, changes in land use, fragmentation of natural ecosystems. In this paper, we aim to test the hypothesis that municipalities located in the Socioeconomic Influence Zones (SIZs) of the fifteen National Parks (NPs) in Spain are more sustainable than those in their surroundings or, conversely, that the municipalities of their surroundings are more unsustainable. To measure their sustainability, we propose a system for assessment using fifteen indicators selected by experts. The methodology is based on the normalization of the data of each indicator, comparing them with a desirable target value defined in terms of sector policies and strategies. We then aggregate the indicators for each group in three indices that cover the classic dimensions of sustainability—environmental, economic and social. On a network scale, the results show that municipalities inside the SIZs are 1.594 points more sustainable environmentally, 0.108 economically and 0.068 socially than those of their surroundings. A system for assessment of the sustainability of municipalities (SASMU) may be a useful tool for NP managers, and for local and regional administrations, when setting priorities for policies, projects and compensation for regulatory restrictions related to NPs.

National Parks—Areas of Economic Development or Stagnation? Evidence from Poland

“…The results of the analysis confirm the findings of Getzner et al [37] based on studies conducted in various countries of the world that suggest that protected areas do not hinder regional development but increase or at least stabilize production activities and employment in a given region. However, it does not imply that the results of research conducted in the national parks of Australia, the United Sates, Spain or Great Britain, which show a positive impact of protected areas on the economy [83,[87][88][89], can fully apply to the conditions of all Polish national parks and the socioeconomic situation of particular communes. It should be noted that the socioeconomic situation is very diversified, and not all communes with parks/separated groups of parks are characterized by a higher level of development than reference areas.…”

“…Geographical proximity determines similar development conditions of these two groups of communes, which in this case seems to be crucial. Such an approach was used by Martínez-Vega et al [83] in assessing the sustainability of park municipalities in Spain. The problem that may arise in this approach are the park's external effects, which can reach beyond its immediate vicinity and also include the benchmark communes [84].…”

Sustainability assessment of rural landscapes from spatial and multiple stakeholders’ perspective

“…Based on a review of the rural sustainability assessments (Table 1) and considering the availability of data at the administrative village level, we conceived a multi-dimensional indicator system (Table 3) that embraced the perspectives of villagers, tourists, and the government, who are the key actors and stakeholders in rural development and sustainability (He et al 2020;Moreau et al 2023). More specifically, from the villagers' perspective, indicators of population density and population growth were selected from the social dimension (Ferretti et al 2020;González-García et al 2019;López-Penabad et al 2022;Martínez-Vega et al 2020). Resident population data for each administrative village in Huzhou City were obtained from the WorldPOP Project database (Gaughan et al 2016), which is currently the most accurate high-resolution population database for China (Bai et al 2018).…”

“…Among them, population density and population growth are the two most frequently used indicators, given that rural population has been declining in most rural areas (Liu and Li 2017;López-Penabad et al 2022). Population density is usually measured as inhabitants per square kilometer (Martínez-Vega et al 2020) and population growth is measured as annual net population growth (González-García et al 2019). From the dimension of economy, income and employment are the most common indicators.…”

Protected Area Effectiveness in the Scientific Literature: A Decade-Long Bibliometric Analysis

“…Finally, we noted increasing interest in holistic approaches to research. Alongside natural studies, the human dimension should be integrated as a route to understanding sustainability [66]. For example, in the field of Oceanography, progress is being made from the study of Marine Reserves to that of Marine Protected Areas.…”