Resin-tapped pine forests in Spain: Ecological diversity and economic valuation

Since ancient times, Mediterranean pine forests have been habitat for human activity, providing a wide range of goods such as timber, seeds, resin and derived products. Among them, tar and resin have played an historical role on the interaction between human activity and forests. In Spain, the resin played an important role in the economic and social development in rural areas during 20th century. But after 1980, resin production plummeted and the virtual disappearance of resin tapping caused the abandonment of traditional forest activities and the subsequently losses of ecosystem forest services (provision, regulation and cultural). This paper deals with some of the ecosystem services provided by resin tapped pine forests and shows how the abandonment of this traditional forestry activity would lead to a loss of social welfare beyond the economic activity. Among these ecosystem services, special attention is paid to the biodiversity of the pine forests. For that purpose, a stratified vegetation sampling was conducted in the leading resin-tapping Spanish region. Ecological analysis was therefore compared with the social preferences for several attributes associated to resin-tapped pine forests in Spain, including the biodiversity of flora.

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Soliño, Mario, Yu, Tianqi, Alía, Ricardo, Auñón, Francisco, Bravo-Oviedo, Andrés, Chambel, Maria Regina, Miguel, Jesús de, Río, Miren del, Justes, Antón, Martínez-Jauregui, María, Montero, Gregorio, Mutke, Sven, Ruiz-Peinado, Ricardo, García del Barrio, José M.
Other Authors: European Commission
Format: artículo biblioteca
Published: Elsevier 2018-06-01
Subjects:Inverse distance weighting, Vascular plants, Pinus pinaster, Biodiversity, Discrete choice experiment, Ecosystem services,
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/161128
http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000780
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Summary:Since ancient times, Mediterranean pine forests have been habitat for human activity, providing a wide range of goods such as timber, seeds, resin and derived products. Among them, tar and resin have played an historical role on the interaction between human activity and forests. In Spain, the resin played an important role in the economic and social development in rural areas during 20th century. But after 1980, resin production plummeted and the virtual disappearance of resin tapping caused the abandonment of traditional forest activities and the subsequently losses of ecosystem forest services (provision, regulation and cultural). This paper deals with some of the ecosystem services provided by resin tapped pine forests and shows how the abandonment of this traditional forestry activity would lead to a loss of social welfare beyond the economic activity. Among these ecosystem services, special attention is paid to the biodiversity of the pine forests. For that purpose, a stratified vegetation sampling was conducted in the leading resin-tapping Spanish region. Ecological analysis was therefore compared with the social preferences for several attributes associated to resin-tapped pine forests in Spain, including the biodiversity of flora.