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- Dynamics of the land use changes and the associated barriers and opportunities for sustainable development on peripheral and insular territories: The Madeira Island (Portugal)Publication . Castanho, Rui Alexandre; Lousada, Sérgio; Gómez, José Manuel Naranjo; Escórcio, Patrícia; Cabezas, José; Fernández-Pozo, Luis; Loures, LuísConsidering the complex dynamics, patterns, and particularities that peripheral and insular territories/regions present—e.g., as the fragility, they show to achieve a sustain able development and growth—a study that analyzes the land uses of this territories is seen as pivotal to identify barriers and opportunities for a long-term sustained devel opment. Contextually, a general analysis was carried out through case study research methods covering those territorial typologies of the insular territory of Madeira Island, Portugal. The study, which was carried out through GIS mapping tools, enabled us to identify the land use changes in the last decades over the territory—allowing to estab lish a relation and identification of the associated barriers and opportunities presented by the territories to face the emerging sustainable development challenges. The study reveals the evident limitations of “ultra-peripheral” territories not only by the physical spatial dimensions but also by the difficulty to reconvert land uses. Thus, the main actors and their policies over the territory are even more relevant and need to be conducted in a more reasonable way—considering the fragility of this regions; such actions present higher impact over the territory and over their inhabitants’ life’s quality standards and finally on the long-term sustainability.
- Interactions between surrounding landscape biodiversity and intermittent rivers in mediterranean environments – case study of the Caia RiverPublication . Kaletová, Tatiana; Raposo, Mauro; Pinto-Gomes, Carlos; Castanho, Rui Alexandre; Martin Gallardo, Jose; Loures, Luís; Castanho, Hermenegildo; Cabezas, José; Fernándes-Pozo, Luis; Naranjo Gómez, José Manuel; Lousada, Sérgio; Escórcio, PatríciaLandscape is a dynamic mosaic of various structures interacting together. Neglecting or overusing one part of this mosaic may boost up or damage the development of others. For instance, overgrazing may increase soil erosion process which may clog a river/stream. In this regard land use changes, climate change and landscape management may lead to increase the intermittency of the surface watercourses, as well as in the ecosystem services provided by riverscapes for humans. Therefore, the present research focus on the existing interactions between the Caia River, an intermittent river located in the Mediterranean region, and its surrounding agricultural and natural landscapes. The performed analyses considered the identification of the existing interaction between natural and agricultural landscapes with the Caia River defining the predictable ecosystem services provided by each element of the landscape and assessing the potential decrease of the ecosystem services provided in case of landscape changes, which according to the performed research might enclose significant impacts both in ecologic and socioeconomic terms.
- Assessing land-use changes in european territories: a retrospective study from 1990 to 2012Publication . Gómez, José Manuel Naranjo; Loures, Luís Carlos; Castanho, Rui Alexandre; Cabezas Fernández, José; Fernández-Pozo, Luis; Lousada, Sérgio António Neves; Escórcio, PatríciaThe need to understand what land use is has motivated the development of programmes that aims to identify it and quantify it—CORINE Land Cover (CLC) in 1985. From this official and open geodatabase—through the using of geographic information system (GIS) tools—the amount of area established for each land use has been identified in all the 28 member states of the EU. This mostly corresponds to agricultural and forestry uses. Between 1990 and 2012, it was possible to determine countries with variable land use models such as Finland, Latvia, Portugal and Spain—the rest of the states presenting stable land use models. Additionally, some countries are characterized by the predomi nance of one or two land uses. Contextually, the proposal aims to develop a retrospective study regarding the land-use changes in the EU territories from 1990 to 2012, through the available tools such as CLC.