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Tracking 130 years of coastal wetland reclamation in Ria Formosa, Portugal: Opportunities for conservation and aquaculture

2020-05Journal article Restricted access
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dc.contributor.authorMendes Da Silva De Sousa, Carlos A
dc.contributor.authorCunha, Maria Emilia
dc.contributor.authorRibeiro, Laura
dc.date.accessioned2021-06-24T11:35:42Z
dc.date.available2023-05-01T00:30:14Z
dc.date.issued2020-05
dc.description.abstractEconomic activities in coastal wetlands are often perceived as incompatible with nature conservation. This negative perception stems from the visible impacts resulting from a continuous process of coastal wetland reclamation, as human pressure increases significantly in global coastal areas. The largest coastal wetland area in southern Portugal, the Ria Formosa, shares a similar perception, where current nature protection status often conflicts with the needed economic development. Here we explore how the economic activities influenced the wetland reclamation process in Ria Formosa, addressing namely aquaculture identified as an activity with a significant compatibilization potential. Different datasets were merged in a Geographical Information System, tracking land use change in Ria Formosa wetlands over the last 130 years at decadal intervals. Our results show that since the end of the 19th century nearly 2000 ha of wetlands were converted to anthropic environments, resulting in a 20 % natural area reduction. From 1885 until the mid-20th century, land use policy was influenced by the significant regional seafood preservation industry, with large swaths of wetlands diked, drained and excavated to give place to traditional salt farms. The following economic downturn gave place for the late industrialization of salt farms, further increasing the reclaimed wetland areas, later stalling with the recognition of the environmental importance of Ria Formosa in 1978. Aquaculture only gained momentum in 1980's with the support of European funding, resulting in the conversion of many unproductive diked areas. However, late 20th century and current land use policy shifted to a nature conservation focus, therefore limiting the use of previously reclaimed areas, a challenge that influenced the abandonment of the modified areas. By studying the long-term change of land use in Ria Formosa, we argue that in high conservation value areas new policies should be considered that stimulate the development of an ecosystem approach to economic activities, namely aquaculture, improving simultaneously the regional environmental status and socioeconomic sustainable development.
dc.description.sponsorshipINTERREG Program [0240_AQUA_AMBI_6_P]
dc.description.sponsorshipFundacao para a Ciencia e a TecnologiaPortuguese Foundation for Science and TechnologyEuropean Commission [PTDC/MAREST/1031/2014]
dc.description.versioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
dc.identifier.doi10.1016/j.landusepol.2020.104544
dc.identifier.issn0264-8377
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10400.1/16514
dc.language.isoeng
dc.peerreviewedyes
dc.publisherElsevier
dc.subjectLand use change
dc.subjectWetland reclamation
dc.subjectWetland conversion
dc.subjectWetland restoration
dc.subjectIMTA
dc.subjectRia Formosa
dc.subject.otherEnvironmental Sciences & Ecology
dc.titleTracking 130 years of coastal wetland reclamation in Ria Formosa, Portugal: Opportunities for conservation and aquaculture
dc.typejournal article
dspace.entity.typePublication
oaire.citation.startPage104544
oaire.citation.titleLand Use Policy
oaire.citation.volume94
person.familyNameMendes da Silva de Sousa
person.givenNameCarlos A
person.identifier.ciencia-idBF10-E2DF-06BB
person.identifier.orcid0000-0003-4616-2278
person.identifier.scopus-author-id37015016500
rcaap.rightsopenAccesspt_PT
rcaap.typearticle
relation.isAuthorOfPublicationcbaa20c3-5e33-4112-9d1d-c645c9078aa3
relation.isAuthorOfPublication.latestForDiscoverycbaa20c3-5e33-4112-9d1d-c645c9078aa3

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