Evaluación del cambio de uso del suelo en las áreas protegidas de Europa a través del tiempo

Resumen

El estatus de área protegida debe ser mas importante que para lo que se usa actualmente. En la actualidad las areas protegidas tienen un rol crucial en la sociedad, el medio ambiente y la economia. El cambio de uso del suelo, ha sido el factor que mayor presion ejerce sobre las areas protegidas con un gran numero de problemas ocasionados como el calentamiento global y la perdida de biodiversidad afectando a todos los involucrados. El cambio de uso del suelo por decada, ha sido estudiado por las mas antiguas areas protegidas de Europa, desde los años 1900 hasta el 2000 con un radio de 10 kilometros a su alrededor.El cambio de uso tambien fue comparado con los mas grandes sucesos historicos definidos en el tiempo. Este estudio se dirige a visualizar las diferencias substanciales en periodos de tiempo, con el fin de estudiar si las areas protegidas mejoran y limitan ese cambio de uso del suelo en distintos periodos historicos. Adicionalmente tambien se estudiara si la categorizacion IUCN afecta el cambio de uso del suelo en las areas protegidas. Se establecen entonces tres periodos de tiempo en los que se estudiara que tan efectivo es el establecimiento de areas protegidas en cuanto al cambio en el uso del suelo y si existe un respeto de ese limite para los asentamientos humanos.

Abstract

Protected area status has become more important than it used to be. Today, protected areas have a crucial role in society, environment and economy. Land use change has become a major issue submitting protected areas to pressures which trigger a number of problems such as biodiversity loss and enhancing global warming, which affects their nature and our livelihoods. The land use/cover change per decade was studied for Europe’s oldest protected areas from 1900 to 2000, within their limits and outside a 10km radio. The land use change was also compared between historic time steps defined by major historic events in Europe’s protected areas history. The study addressed if the protected areas were actually working in limiting or enhancing land use/cover change through time and find if there were substantial differences between time periods. Additionally, it also addressed if the IUCN categorization was affecting land use change within the protected areas. Despite increases in the rate of change of human settlements outside the protected areas, which could lead to negative interactions, protected areas have been effective in limiting the land use change within their boundaries. Based on historic events, 3 time lapses were established. Significant differences were found between time lapses in the rate of change of land cover category (Settlements, Cropland and Forest) and in total area. Since the introduction of the IUCN categories, the total areas inside the protected areas is less for the Settlements and Cropland categories and more for the Forest one compared to other historic time lapses. Protected areas are effective in limiting the area of settlements and cropland within their limits.