IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/lauspo/v81y2019icp382-391.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Assessment of management measures for the conservation of traditional irrigated lands: The case of the Huerta of Murcia (Spain)

Author

Listed:
  • Martínez-Paz, José Miguel
  • Banos-González, Isabel
  • Martínez-Fernández, Julia
  • Esteve-Selma, Miguel Ángel

Abstract

Traditional Mediterranean irrigated lands, such as the Huerta of Murcia (Spain), constitute characteristic agroecosystems which provide several ecosystem services, both cultural and regulating. Nevertheless, these agroecosystems are threatened by factors linked to the low profitability of agricultural production under present market conditions and the land conversion to non-agricultural uses.In order to assess the perceptions and valuation of the Huerta of Murcia by the local population, an economic valuation survey was carried out, using a contingent valuation method (CVM). Based on the survey, we identified the measures that were most valued with regard to the conservation of the huerta, which were: i) Limitation of the land uptake for urban uses; ii) Creation of programs to conserve ecosystem services, by means of financial support; and iii) Initiatives to promote the production of traditional agricultural products. Finally, we included these measures in a dynamic system model that, once validated, was used to explore the potential impact of such initiatives on the expected future behavior of the Huerta of Murcia.The CVM findings show the importance given to the huerta by the population of the area, beyond the use they usually make of it. The results also allowed the determination of the amount that the local people are willing to pay for the conservation of the environmental services of the Huerta of Murcia.Moreover, the simulation results for the period 2015-2030, obtained using the model, suggest that more direct measures, such as land planning, achieve better results than indirect options, such as those derived from agricultural policy and the implementation of a payment for ecosystem services, even when these latter aspects are combined. Under a scenario combining the three measures valued most highly, the loss of these irrigated lands would be reduced by around 11.5% in 2030, compared to the base trend simulation.Although the policies analyzed would improve the situation in the short and medium term, more ambitious actions would be required for full conservation of this agroecosystem in the long run.

Suggested Citation

  • Martínez-Paz, José Miguel & Banos-González, Isabel & Martínez-Fernández, Julia & Esteve-Selma, Miguel Ángel, 2019. "Assessment of management measures for the conservation of traditional irrigated lands: The case of the Huerta of Murcia (Spain)," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 382-391.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:lauspo:v:81:y:2019:i:c:p:382-391
    DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2018.10.050
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264837718307816
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.landusepol.2018.10.050?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Martínez-Fernández, Julia & Esteve-Selma, Miguel Angel & Baños-González, Isabel & Carreño, Francisca & Moreno, Angeles, 2013. "Sustainability of Mediterranean irrigated agro-landscapes," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 248(C), pages 11-19.
    2. Krasny, Marianne E. & Russ, Alex & Tidball, Keith G. & Elmqvist, Thomas, 2014. "Civic ecology practices: Participatory approaches to generating and measuring ecosystem services in cities," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 7(C), pages 177-186.
    3. Benjamin L. Turner & Vincent Tidwell & Alexander Fernald & José A. Rivera & Sylvia Rodriguez & Steven Guldan & Carlos Ochoa & Brian Hurd & Kenneth Boykin & Andres Cibils, 2016. "Modeling Acequia Irrigation Systems Using System Dynamics: Model Development, Evaluation, and Sensitivity Analyses to Investigate Effects of Socio-Economic and Biophysical Feedbacks," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(10), pages 1-30, October.
    4. Ian Bateman & Ian Langford, 1997. "Non-users' Willingness to Pay for a National Park: An Application and Critique of the Contingent Valuation Method," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(6), pages 571-582.
    5. Miguel A. Altieri & Clara I. Nicholls, 2017. "The adaptation and mitigation potential of traditional agriculture in a changing climate," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 140(1), pages 33-45, January.
    6. Jose M. Martínez-Paz & Angel Perni & Federico Martínez-Carrasco, 2013. "Assessment of the Programme of Measures for Coastal Lagoon Environmental Restoration Using Cost--Benefit Analysis," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(2), pages 131-148, February.
    7. Banos-González, Isabel & Martínez-Fernández, Julia & Esteve-Selma, Miguel Ángel, 2015. "Dynamic integration of sustainability indicators in insular socio-ecological systems," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 306(C), pages 130-144.
    8. Engel, Stefanie & Pagiola, Stefano & Wunder, Sven, 2008. "Designing payments for environmental services in theory and practice: An overview of the issues," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(4), pages 663-674, May.
    9. Willaarts, Bárbara A. & Volk, Martin & Aguilera, Pedro A., 2012. "Assessing the ecosystem services supplied by freshwater flows in Mediterranean agroecosystems," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 21-31.
    10. N. Turpin & P. Dupraz & C. Thenail & A. Joannon & J. Baudry & S. Herviou & P. Verburg, 2009. "Shaping the landscape: agricultural policies and local biodiversity schemes," Post-Print hal-00453894, HAL.
    11. Zheng, Wei & Shen, Geoffrey Qiping & Wang, Hao & Hong, Jingke & Li, Zhengdao, 2017. "Decision support for sustainable urban renewal: A multi-scale model," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 361-371.
    12. Schomers, Sarah & Matzdorf, Bettina, 2013. "Payments for ecosystem services: A review and comparison of developing and industrialized countries," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 6(C), pages 16-30.
    13. Lacitignola, D. & Petrosillo, I. & Cataldi, M. & Zurlini, G., 2007. "Modelling socio-ecological tourism-based systems for sustainability," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 206(1), pages 191-204.
    14. Heider, Katharina & Rodriguez Lopez, Juan Miguel & García Avilés, José María & Balbo, Andrea L., 2018. "Land fragmentation index for drip-irrigated field systems in the Mediterranean: A case study from Ricote (Murcia, SE Spain)," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 48-56.
    15. Verdú-Vázquez, Amparo & Fernández-Pablos, Eva & Lozano-Diez, Rafael V. & López-Zaldívar, Óscar, 2017. "Development of a methodology for the characterization of urban and periurban green spaces in the context of supra-municipal sustainability strategies," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 75-84.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hua Zheng & Noriko Akita & Shoko Araki & Masayo Fukuda, 2022. "Provision of Allotment Gardens and Its Influencing Factors: A Case Study of Tokyo, Japan," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-23, February.
    2. Moritz A. Drupp & Zachary M. Turk & Ben Groom & Jonas Heckenhahn, 2024. "Limited Substitutability, Relative Price Changes and the Uplifting of Public Natural Capital Values," CESifo Working Paper Series 11156, CESifo.
    3. Roman Plokhikh & Dana Shokparova & Gyula Fodor & Sándor Berghauer & Attila Tóth & Uzakbay Suymukhanov & Aiman Zhakupova & Imre Varga & Kai Zhu & Lóránt Dénes Dávid, 2023. "Towards Sustainable Pasture Agrolandscapes: A Landscape-Ecological-Indicative Approach to Environmental Audits and Impact Assessments," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-15, April.
    4. Pablo Martí & Clara García-Mayor, 2020. "The Huerta Agricultural Landscape in the Spanish Mediterranean Arc: One Landscape, Two Perspectives, Three Specific Huertas," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(11), pages 1-22, November.
    5. Alcon, Francisco & Marín-Miñano, Cristina & Zabala, José A. & de-Miguel, María-Dolores & Martínez-Paz, José M., 2020. "Valuing diversification benefits through intercropping in Mediterranean agroecosystems: A choice experiment approach," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    6. Alcon, Francisco & Zabala, José A. & Martínez-García, Victor & Albaladejo, José A. & López-Becerra, Erasmo I. & de-Miguel, María D. & Martínez-Paz, José M., 2022. "The social wellbeing of irrigation water. A demand-side integrated valuation in a Mediterranean agroecosystem," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 262(C).
    7. Cánovas-Molina, Almudena & Cánovas Soler, Antonio & García-Frapolli, Eduardo, 2021. "City-traditional agriculture dialogues: The ‘Huerta de Murcia’ case study," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    8. Zabala, José A. & Martínez-Paz, José M. & Alcon, Francisco, 2021. "Integrated valuation of semiarid Mediterranean agroecosystem services and disservices," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    9. Lorilla, Roxanne Suzette & Kalogirou, Stamatis & Poirazidis, Konstantinos & Kefalas, George, 2019. "Identifying spatial mismatches between the supply and demand of ecosystem services to achieve a sustainable management regime in the Ionian Islands (Western Greece)," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    10. Martínez-Paz, José M. & Albaladejo-García, José A. & Barreiro-Hurle, Jesús & Pleite, Federico Martínez-Carrasco & Perni, Ángel, 2021. "Spatial effects in the socioeconomic valuation of peri-urban ecosystems restoration," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    11. Albaladejo-García, José A. & Alcon, Francisco & Martínez-Carrasco, Federico & Martínez-Paz, José M., 2023. "Understanding socio-spatial perceptions and Badlands ecosystem services valuation. Is there any welfare in soil erosion?," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    12. Alcon, Francisco & de-Miguel, María Dolores & Martínez-Paz, José Miguel, 2021. "Assessment of real and perceived cost-effectiveness to inform agricultural diffuse pollution mitigation policies," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Veronesi, Marcella & Reutemann, Tim & Zabel, Astrid & Engel, Stefanie, 2015. "Designing REDD+ schemes when forest users are not forest landowners: Evidence from a survey-based experiment in Kenya," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 46-57.
    2. Alain‐Désiré Nimubona & Jean‐Christophe Pereau, 2022. "Negotiating over payments for wetland ecosystem services," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 55(3), pages 1507-1538, August.
    3. Rodríguez-Ortega, T. & Olaizola, A.M. & Bernués, A., 2018. "A novel management-based system of payments for ecosystem services for targeted agri-environmental policy," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 34(PA), pages 74-84.
    4. Pham, Thu Thuy & Loft, Lasse & Bennett, Karen & Phuong, Vu Tan & Dung, Le Ngoc & Brunner, Jake, 2015. "Monitoring and evaluation of Payment for Forest Environmental Services in Vietnam: From myth to reality," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 16(C), pages 220-229.
    5. Lin, Yongsheng & Dong, Zhanfeng & Zhang, Wei & Zhang, Hongyu, 2020. "Estimating inter-regional payments for ecosystem services: Taking China’s Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region as an example," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    6. Sheng, Jichuan & Qiu, Wenge & Han, Xiao, 2020. "China’s PES-like horizontal eco-compensation program: Combining market-oriented mechanisms and government interventions," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 45(C).
    7. Haas, Johannes Christian & Loft, Lasse & Pham, Thuy Thu, 2019. "How fair can incentive-based conservation get? The interdependence of distributional and contextual equity in Vietnam's payments for Forest Environmental Services Program," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 205-214.
    8. Bing Yu & Linan Chen, 2020. "Interventional Impacts of Watershed Ecological Compensation on Regional Economic Differences: Evidence from Xin’an River, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(17), pages 1-13, September.
    9. Banos-González, Isabel & Martínez-Fernández, Julia & Esteve-Selma, Miguel Ángel, 2015. "Dynamic integration of sustainability indicators in insular socio-ecological systems," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 306(C), pages 130-144.
    10. Huang, Dayan & Liu, Chengyi & Yan, Zehao & Kou, Aiju, 2023. "Payments for Watershed Services and corporate green innovation," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 541-556.
    11. Kubiszewski, Ida & Concollato, Luke & Costanza, Robert & Stern, David I., 2023. "Changes in authorship, networks, and research topics in ecosystem services," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    12. Campanhão, Ligia Maria Barrios & Ranieri, Victor Eduardo Lima, 2019. "Guideline framework for effective targeting of payments for watershed services," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 93-109.
    13. Kristin Nicolaus & Jens Jetzkowitz, 2014. "How Does Paying for Ecosystem Services Contribute to Sustainable Development? Evidence from Case Study Research in Germany and the UK," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(5), pages 1-24, May.
    14. Laxmi Dutt Bhatta & Arati Khadgi & Rajesh Kumar Rai & Bikram Tamang & Kiran Timalsina & Shahriar Wahid, 2018. "Designing community-based payment scheme for ecosystem services: a case from Koshi Hills, Nepal," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 20(4), pages 1831-1848, August.
    15. Yan, Haiming & Yang, Huicai & Guo, Xiaonan & Zhao, Shuqin & Jiang, Qun'ou, 2022. "Payments for ecosystem services as an essential approach to improving ecosystem services: A review," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 201(C).
    16. Grima, Nelson & Singh, Simron J. & Smetschka, Barbara, 2018. "Improving payments for ecosystem services (PES) outcomes through the use of Multi-Criteria Evaluation (MCE) and the software OPTamos," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 29(PA), pages 47-55.
    17. Géraldine Froger & Valérie Boisvert & Philippe Méral & Jean-François Le Coq & Armelle Caron & Olivier Aznar, 2015. "Market-Based Instruments for Ecosystem Services between Discourse and Reality: An Economic and Narrative Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(9), pages 1-17, August.
    18. Paul Opdam & Eveliene Steingröver, 2018. "How Could Companies Engage in Sustainable Landscape Management? An Exploratory Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-15, January.
    19. Martin-Ortega, Julia & Waylen, Kerry A., 2018. "PES What a Mess? An Analysis of the Position of Environmental Professionals in the Conceptual Debate on Payments for Ecosystem Services," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 218-237.
    20. Yajuan Chen & Qian Zhang & Wenping Liu & Zhenrong Yu, 2017. "Analyzing Farmers’ Perceptions of Ecosystem Services and PES Schemes within Agricultural Landscapes in Mengyin County, China: Transforming Trade-Offs into Synergies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(8), pages 1-18, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:lauspo:v:81:y:2019:i:c:p:382-391. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Joice Jiang (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/land-use-policy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.