Abstract
This article analyzes the impact of the end of the COVID-19 lockdown on the number of rescues in natural areas in Catalonia (Spain) during July and August 2020. We compared the figures for 2020 with those corresponding to the same period in 2016–2019, including their temporal and spatial distributions. Our findings show that the number of rescues undertaken by the Catalan Fire Department in July and August 2020 increased significantly compared to the same summer period in the four previous years (+39.7%). The daily averages increased for both weekends and weekdays in 2020, with 7.5 and 3.9 rescues per day, respectively. The greatest increase corresponded to rescue operations conducted at low altitudes (up to 500 m ASL) and areas with no specific protection status near to populated places. Natural areas were perceived safer than, for example, coastal destinations in terms of the risk of COVID-19 contagion, and they experienced a growth in visitors during the first summer of the pandemic. One consequence of this was an increase in emergency service activity to rescue people in natural areas. This research adds new evidence of the multiple indirect effects of the reconfiguration of mobilities in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings could be of interest to emergency service managers, managers of protected natural areas, and public authorities.
Highlights
Protected natural areas play a key role in the conservation of the natural environment and they provide social benefits such as leisure and recreation space [1]
According to the Departament de Territori i Sostenibilitat (DTS; Department of Territory and Sustainability) [56] of the Generalitat de Catalunya, the Catalan System of Natural Protected Spaces is divided into two categories (Figure 1)1: Espais d’Internès Natural (Spaces of Natural Interest; Space of Natural Interest (SNI)) and Espais Naturals de Protecció Especial Land 2021, 10, x FOR PEER REVIEW(Specially Protected Natural Spaces; SPNS)
Our findings show that the number of rescues undertaken by the Catalan Fire Department in July and August 2020 increased significantly compared to the same summer period corresponding to the four previous years
Summary
Protected natural areas play a key role in the conservation of the natural environment and they provide social benefits such as leisure and recreation space [1]. They need to balance nature conservation objectives, allow certain specific activities or uses [2,3,4,5], and contribute to the development of local communities; this is especially true in developing countries [6]. Managers responsible for these protected areas need to have enough resources to apply these kinds of restrictions. There are other natural areas which are not subject to a determined protection status
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