Abstract
Nature-based tourism and recreation are attracting attention today as the most favourable form of direct connection between people and nature, and as a very successful tool to motivate people to protect their natural heritage. This study aims to develop and test a methodology to assess the potential of an acknowledged natural heritage site in Bulgaria - Malyovitsa Range and Urdini Cirque in ‘Rila’ National Park to provide cultural ecosystem services. A holistic approach is applied, using landscapes as the main territorial unit, and source of information. For the purpose of practicing representative types of mountain tourism: ‘mountain hiking’, ‘nature education’ tourism, ‘ski touring’ and ‘mountaineering’ a total of 15 ecosystem services were assessed based on 25 biophysical and social indicators. ‘Primary forest landscapes on moraine materials’ and ‘Primary landscapes with mugo pine on igneous rocks’ receive the highest score. Based on the results obtained, an assessment of the mainstream activity - access to mountain hiking provided by the landscapes was carried out and two touristic routes with very high potential to deliver this service were identified. The results of the study are directed towards the responsible parties in support of the natural heritage conservation in Rila National Park through sustainable management the potential to provide cultural (recreational) ecosystem services. The research was conducted within the scientific programme of the project “Conceptualization, Flexible Methodology, and a Pilot Geospatial Platform for Access of the Bulgarian Natural Heritage to the European Digital Single Market of Knowledge and Information Services” within the project BG05M2OP001-1.001-0001 Establishment and Development of “Heritage BG” Centre of Excellence (Operational Program “Science and Education for Intelligent Growth”, priority Axis 1 “Research and technological development”).
Highlights
Contemporary challenges related to the quality of the human living environment - climate change, urbanization, air and water pollution, and high labour intensity - make the need for meaningful human recreation increasingly relevant
The data show very good overall results (Fig. 4) reclassified to 4 levels according to the potential to provide cultural ecosystem services: very high potential, high potential, medium potential and low potential
This study presents the development and testing of a methodology to assess the recreational potential in the Malyovitsa Range and the Urdin Cirque of the ‘Rila’ National Park through the application of the ecosystem approach and the concept of cultural ecosystem services
Summary
Contemporary challenges related to the quality of the human living environment - climate change, urbanization, air and water pollution, and high labour intensity - make the need for meaningful human recreation increasingly relevant. This topic best corresponds to the opportunities for practicing nature-based tourism and recreation in natural environment - an irreplaceable source of resources of critical importance to human physical and mental health (Frumkin et al 2017). In this study natural heritage is interpreted as "a geospatial natural element of the social-ecological system that carries material and spiritual benefits of enduring, sustainable significance for past, present and future generations" (Scientific Report 2019, Heritage BG Project: Nedkov et al, 2021a). The concept of natural capital and ecosystem services (ES) offers a new perspective on society's dependencies on nature and its heritage (MEA 2005).One www.jbgs.arphahub.com/
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