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Over the last few decades, Mediterranean coastal areas have experienced profound land-use changes due mainly to urban sprawl and reforestation at the expense of former traditional agrarian mosaics and natural resources, such as beach areas or freshwaters streams. These changes have had severe negative consequences on the biodiversity and ecological state (i.e. function) of the territory. The overall objective of this study was to evaluate the economic impacts of these consequences on ecosystem services (ES). By reconstructing the landscape of El Maresme County (Barcelona Province, Spain) for three historical points in time (1850, 1954 and 2010), we were able to assess how these land-use changes have affected the total ecosystem value (TEV) by estimating the ES non-market and market values provided by each land-use through market prices and benefit transfer methods. Results show an important decrease in the value of TEV since the 1950s (23.6 million Euros per year) due to urban sprawl. Despite the major changes occurring between the 1850s and 1950s, non-market values did not alter very much due to the type of agricultural practices. Our results show the necessity to take into account the value of non-market ES when designing land planning policies, and especially those concerning beaches and coastal systems to fully integrate the contribution on natural systems into decision-making processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the environmental indicators GIS of the Catalan coast, Spain. The spatial data model is based on vector and raster layers with three main modules: the biodiversity, the general biophysical and the socioeconomic. Presently, the database has a number of pressure and impact indicators that have been used to model the components and structure of the system and are suggested to build ecological resilience. Special interest has been given to the analysis of functional groups of species that are relevant to the dynamics of the coastal system, and preliminary results are presented. This system constitutes a user-oriented analytical and monitoring tool for coastal zone managers and researchers. Although, the system is under development it is expected that resulting spatial indicators of environmental condition can be used to promote more sustainable coastal strategies and actions in the Catalan coast. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geographical areas constitute the basic implementation locus for integrated coastal zone management strategies and activities. Because the definition of territorial planning objectives may be affected by socioeconomic and environmental characteristics, one of the main steps in the process involves dividing the coast into homogeneous environmental management units (HEMUs). This article presents a general and simple method for regionalizing the landside of a coastal zone into HEMUs and illustrates it through application to the Catalan coast. Socioeconomic and natural (biophysical) subsystems were selected as the most appropriate dimensions of the regionalization process. Dimensions were described using 11 spatial themes, which were managed in a geographic information system environment that proved to be an adequate tool for the purpose. A final coastal zone map of four classes of HEMUs connected to local administrative units was obtained, and because it reflects the current natural and socioeconomic dynamics, it can be considered as an initial step in the planning process for the Catalan coast. Although the proposed method was developed based on the characteristics of the Catalan coast, it is general enough to be adapted and applied to most developed or developing coastal areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]