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**Chapter 8**

**Provisional chapter**

**A Centennial Path Towards Sustainability in Spanish**

**A Centennial Path Towards Sustainability in Spanish** 

National Parks (NPs) were the first protected areas (PAs) designated in Spain one century ago. NPs are PAs of exceptional natural and cultural value that are representative of the Spanish natural heritage. Currently, there are 15 NPs in Spain covering almost 400,000 ha, although new site designations are being considered. Spanish NPs' main objectives are closely linked to the sustainability concept: conserving natural and cultural assets in the long term and promoting public use, environmental awareness, research and socioeconomic development. Here, the history of modern nature conservation in Spain is summarized, with special focus on NPs. Moreover, the main monitoring and assessment initiatives in Spanish National Parks are reviewed. Finally, the major results of two current research projects focusing on the sustainability of Spanish NPs, DISESGLOB and

**Keywords:** protected area, assessment, sustainable development, Spain, history

© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution,

© 2018 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use,

distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Places set aside to conserve natural resources such as forests, plants, animals (chiefly game animals) or waters have existed for centuries. European and Asian kings and noblemen established royal reserves or game reserves in their dominions. Those 'reserves' forbade or restricted access and use of resources to laymen for pleasure and enjoyment of the privileged, who were entrusted management and conservation of such sites. Modern protected areas (PAs)

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.73196

**National Parks: Biodiversity Conservation and**

**National Parks: Biodiversity Conservation and** 

**Socioeconomic Development (1918-2018)**

**Socioeconomic Development (1918-2018)**

David Rodríguez-Rodríguez and

David Rodríguez-Rodríguez and

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.73196

SOSTPARK, are provided.

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

Javier Martínez-Vega

Javier Martínez-Vega

**Abstract**

**1. Introduction**

#### **A Centennial Path Towards Sustainability in Spanish National Parks: Biodiversity Conservation and Socioeconomic Development (1918-2018) A Centennial Path Towards Sustainability in Spanish National Parks: Biodiversity Conservation and Socioeconomic Development (1918-2018)**

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.73196

David Rodríguez-Rodríguez and Javier Martínez-Vega David Rodríguez-Rodríguez and Javier Martínez-Vega

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.73196

#### **Abstract**

National Parks (NPs) were the first protected areas (PAs) designated in Spain one century ago. NPs are PAs of exceptional natural and cultural value that are representative of the Spanish natural heritage. Currently, there are 15 NPs in Spain covering almost 400,000 ha, although new site designations are being considered. Spanish NPs' main objectives are closely linked to the sustainability concept: conserving natural and cultural assets in the long term and promoting public use, environmental awareness, research and socioeconomic development. Here, the history of modern nature conservation in Spain is summarized, with special focus on NPs. Moreover, the main monitoring and assessment initiatives in Spanish National Parks are reviewed. Finally, the major results of two current research projects focusing on the sustainability of Spanish NPs, DISESGLOB and SOSTPARK, are provided.

**Keywords:** protected area, assessment, sustainable development, Spain, history

## **1. Introduction**

Places set aside to conserve natural resources such as forests, plants, animals (chiefly game animals) or waters have existed for centuries. European and Asian kings and noblemen established royal reserves or game reserves in their dominions. Those 'reserves' forbade or restricted access and use of resources to laymen for pleasure and enjoyment of the privileged, who were entrusted management and conservation of such sites. Modern protected areas (PAs)

© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2018 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

were initially designated to preserve pristine landscapes when impacts from human development started to be conspicuous and widespread [1]. Aesthetic considerations are largely responsible for the mountainous character of initial PAs. The first widely agreed such PA was Yellowstone National Park (NP), designated in 1872 in north-west United States, although some claims are made that Mongolian Bogd Khan Uul NP, designated in 1783, might have been the first modern PA. Whichever the right chronology, the institutionalization of modern PAs can safely be dated by the end of the nineteenth century. The first such PAs were designated under the category of NP in the United States, Australia, Canada and New Zealand in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. In Europe, Sweden designated the first NP in 1909; Russia, in 1912; and Switzerland, in 1914 [2]. Spain followed few years later, in 1918.

aimed at those natural sites that merited protection but which were not as environmentally exceptional as NPs: 'Natural Site of National Interest' (NSNI) and 'Natural Monument of

A Centennial Path Towards Sustainability in Spanish National Parks: Biodiversity…

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.73196

101

The National Park Central Junta was created that year and, in 1918, the history of Spanish NPs began with the designation of the first two NPs in July and August of 1918, respectively: Montaña de Covadonga NP, designated over 16,925 ha in the Cantabrian mountain range in northern Spain and Valle de Ordesa NP, covering 2046 ha in the Pyrenean range in north-eastern Spain [1]. Both were mountainous NPs designated primarily on landscape grounds. Other PAs, chiefly mountainous sites or geologically original sites, were slowly and sparsely designated across the country under different legal categories from 1918, progressively expanding

National Interest'.

**Figure 1.** Extract from the Spanish law on National Parks from 1916.

Nowadays, NP is among the most widespread PA categories worldwide and virtually every sovereign state has designated NPs in their territories. NP is one of the six (seven?) PA management categories established by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) [3]. Most NPs share some characteristics and aims that are synthesized in the IUCN's definition of 'NP' as 'large natural or near natural areas set aside to protect large-scale ecological processes, along with the complement of species and ecosystems characteristic of the area, which also provide a foundation for environmentally and culturally compatible spiritual, scientific, educational, recreational and visitor opportunities'. NPs normally restrict most human activities within their borders for nature conservation or restoration, although they are not as stringent as Reserves (IUCN's management Category I), allowing and even promoting controlled educational, research and recreational activities.
