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Authors requiring further information regarding Elsevier’s archiving and manuscript policies are encouraged to visit: http://www.elsevier.com/copyright Author's personal copy Land Use Policy 30 (2013) 25–37 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Land Use Policy jou rnal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/landusepol Social–ecological heritage and the conservation of Mediterranean landscapes under global change. A case study in Olzinelles (Catalonia) a,∗ a,b a Iago Otero , Martí Boada , Joan David Tàbara a Institute of Environmental Science and Technology, Edifici C, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain b Department of Geography, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t Article history: Both biological and cultural diversities seem to be diminishing together along with the progressive inter- Received 17 May 2011 connection of peoples and ecosystems of the earth under the rules and dynamics of global markets. This Received in revised form 19 January 2012 has led some conservationists and social scientists to highlight the need for enhanced knowledge on the Accepted 14 February 2012 complex interrelationships between cultural and biological diversities if successful conservation strate- gies are to be achieved. In this work we show how the long-term coevolution between peasants and Keywords: their environment sustained habitats and species that are now declining along with rural exodus in a Biodiversity mountainous area of the Mediterranean, a region where the maintenance of diverse landscapes is very Cultural diversity Mediterranean much related to the presence of traditional rural activities. We provide an account of agrosilvopastoral practices once performed by the local peasant community and show their embeddedness in a particular Social–ecological heritage Conservation set of institutions and worldview within an adaptive social–ecological system. We argue that such prac- tices constitute an essential social–ecological heritage entailing valuable insights for the conservation of Mediterranean landscapes under conditions of global change. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Introduction biodiversity through several practices that enhance the resilience of the social–ecological systems in which they operate (Berkes Some conservationists and social scientists have pointed to the et al., 2000). Along these lines, the science of ecology and the var- links between cultural and biological diversities and have high- ious fields of applied ecology have experienced a conceptual shift lighted the need to portray an integrated picture of the diversity toward the understanding of ecosystems as complex adaptive sys- of life in all its forms if successful conservation strategies are tems in which humans are an integral part (Berkes, 2004). to be achieved (Maffi, 2005). For long, several disciplines have However, there is a need for enhanced knowledge on the com- engaged in the study of the relationships between humans and plex interrelationships between cultural and biological diversities, the natural world, albeit with different conceptual frameworks especially when there are clear signs of mutual losses as we and methods. Landscape ecology has stressed the role of specific increasingly move toward a globally interconnected system. The practices of resource management in the configuration of hetero- Mediterranean region is a particularly illustrative example of these geneous landscapes at multiple spatial and temporal scales and complex processes. First, it is considered a hotspot of global biodi- across many different taxa and ecosystems of the earth (Turner, versity (Myers et al., 2000) which highly diverse cultural landscapes 2005; Benton et al., 2003). Ethnoecologists have showed that result from the close historical interactions between natural (land such management practices, mostly performed by indigenous and heterogeneity) and human (stewardship) processes throughout rural groups, are very much embedded in particular beliefs and millennia (Farina et al., 2003). The maintenance of such richness knowledge systems of their local environment (Toledo, 1992), and in life forms is very much associated to the presence of traditional have investigated how the creation, acquisition, transmission and practices of natural resource management. Second, Mediterranean loss of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) were connected biodiversity is highly threatened because of its particular sensitivity to factors such as age, formal education and integration to mar- to land-use changes and invasion of exotic species (Sala et al., 2000). ket economies (Reyes-García, 2009). In this regard, TEK related In the north rim of the basin, the cultural landscapes are being management systems, mostly performed by resource-poor farmers rapidly degraded due to land abandonment, agricultural intensi- (Altieri, 2002), are considered to contribute to the conservation of fication, urban sprawl and globalization (Farina, 2000; MacDonald et al., 2000; Stoate et al., 2001; Catalán et al., 2008). This notwith- standing, there is still a number of important semi-natural areas ∗ which play crucial social and ecological functions, including many Corresponding author. Tel.: +34 93 581 2532; fax: +34 93 581 3331. E-mail address: [email protected] (I. Otero). mountainous areas where a large decrease of ecosystem services 0264-8377/$ – see front matter © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.landusepol.2012.02.005 Author's personal copy 26 I. Otero et al. / Land Use Policy 30 (2013) 25–37 (e.g. water availability) is expected as a result of global change Social–ecological transformations in the course of economic (Schröter et al., 2005). And third, the north rim of the Mediterranean modernization (1750s–1960s) hosts many highly industrialized and urbanized societies. All this offers a unique context to extend the current debates and meth- Although the Montnegre Mountains have been inhabited since ods analyzing biocultural diversity. That is, from mainly focusing pre-Roman times (Abril et al., 1995), the origin of the settlement on indigenous groups of remote areas to analyze processes which in dispersed farmhouses (masos) organized in small parishes may embrace more varied social groups affected by some degree of be dated back to the turn of the second millennium (Portals, 1998; modernization (Cocks, 2006)—but who nevertheless have played Vilageliu, 1981). During the complex and conflictive transition from a central role in the molding of the local biodiversity. the medieval ages to market economy (Cussó et al., 2006), a few 1 An integrated understanding of the relation between cultural peasants holding the masos under emphyteutic contracts with impoverishment and changes in biodiversity demands paying feudalists gradually accumulated land and gained control of the special attention to specific processes occurring at different spa- rights of access to it, thus consolidating as the new landlord class tial scales and within specific social–ecological systems. In this of the region by the mid 18th century (Otero, 2006, p. 84). As the research, we show how the long-term coevolution between agrosil- demographic growth of the 18th century increased the demand for vopastoral users and their environment has created and sustained land, such landowners expanded their production by leasing plots particular habitats and species that are now declining after the dis- to small and landless peasants (Serra, 2008) who settled in Mont- appearance of traditional management practices along with rural negre Mountains (Rangil, 2009). Indeed, as Olzinelles increased its exodus in a concrete area of the Catalan Coastal Range (Olzinelles). inhabitants from 89 to 147 between 1719 and 1787 (Abril et al., To this aim, this paper proceeds as follows. (a) We first describe 1995), the landlords leased some plots of land to landless peasants the study area and synthesize the social–ecological transformations through specific emphyteutic contracts (rabassa morta) allowing experienced during its recent economic modernization and transi- them to plant vines after forest clearance (Zaragoza, 2006, pp. tion to a global economy, with a special emphasis on the recent 99–110). The local expansion of vineyards in the former forests changes in biodiversity. (b) We then present the chosen interdis- reflected the trend of the Catalan economy toward an increase in ciplinary methodological approach which combines archival data cash crops after the subsistence-oriented agriculture of the pre- about historical land-uses and practices, interviews with local rural vious century (Fontana, 1990). However, the mountainous relief settlers, and a GIS analysis of land-uses. (c) We describe the par- of Olzinelles municipality, with little arable land, prevented