Abstract
Coastal wetlands are among the most productive and valuable ecosystems worldwide, although one of the main factors affecting their survival is the coexistence between agriculture and conservation. This paper analyses the complex balance between agriculture and conservation coexistence in El Hondo Natural Park (Alicante, Spain) coastal wetland by examining stakeholders’ narratives, perceptions, and interactions. The aim is to highlight the concurrence between socio-economic progress and socio-environmental justice perspectives by identifying those driving factors motivating stakeholders’ conflicts while expanding stakeholders’ behaviour and interaction when discussing the current and future management of this socio-ecological system. Data were collected between April and June 2019 from semi-structured interviews and questionnaires to river basin authorities, regional governments, municipalities, irrigation communities, union farms, regional and local ecologist groups, and social movements; and scrutinized through qualitative data analysis and descriptive statistics. Stakeholders discussed the main driving factors identified through the local newspapers to motivating current conflicts and confronting perspectives in El Hondo Natural Park: (1) the origin and evolution of the coastal wetland, (2) the provision and value of ecosystem services, (3) the management of water scarcity and water quality standards, (4) the guarantee and management of public and private investment, and (5) consequences of a natural park declaration. Likewise, the triple-loop analysis of stakeholders’ representativeness, relevance and collaboration highlighted examples of stakeholders’ underrepresentation and power imbalance, a negative assessment of the stakeholders’ actions, and how agreements are based on both stakeholders’ predisposition to collaborate and affinity.
Highlights
Coastal wetlands are unique and complex socio-ecological systems composed of interacting biophysical and social processes (Speake et al 2020)
This paper analyses the complex balance between agriculture and conservation coexistence in El Hondo Natural Park (Spain) by examining stakeholders’ narratives, perceptions, and interactions
Inductive coding identified 24 codes duly organized in different topics: (1) Origin, (2) Ecosystem services, (3) Water scarcity and quality standards, (4) Investment, and (5) Natural Park declaration
Summary
Coastal wetlands are unique and complex socio-ecological systems composed of interacting biophysical and social processes (Speake et al 2020). It is projected that their loss and environmental degradation will increase in the following years (Li et al 2018) These habitats play a significant role in the provision of ecosystem services and functions,. Wetlands are often considered wastelands, which should be transformed into “useful” (human) systems (e.g., by agriculture, forestry, husbandry, hunting, or fishing) (Junk et al 2013). Likewise, their significant aesthetic values can be aligned with education, recreation, and ecotourism activities (Vidal-Giménez and Ruiz-Mas 2020)
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