MAPPING CULTURAL ECOSYSTEM SERVICES IN CONFLICT AREAS
STUDENT SEMINAR IN BIODIVERSITY AND EVOLUTION
Mapping cultural ecosystem services is extremely important to counteract ecosystem degradation worldwide and to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Yet, few mapping exercises cover large continental scales and even less include representative constraint factors causing changes in cultural ecosystem services supply, such as regional insecurity caused by conflict acting across country borders or by oil/gas/mining expansion. Mapping transboundary constraints to cultural ecosystem services is of paramount importance for decision-makers classify avoidance-areas for tourists and allocate recreation resources in the space thoroughly. Here, I will present a study where we mapped the supply of cultural ecosystem services (recreation and ecotourism) in the Sahara-Sahel ecoregions of North Africa using a multicriteria approach that includes constraints playing at broader scales. I will show the spatial distribution of individual and combined attraction and constraint features, and where constraints are struggling cultural ecosystem services supply. I will also present some of most notable deserts’ attractions for ecotourism development.
Frederico is a PhD student in BIODESERTS group with research interests in ecotourism, biological conservation, and environmental management. He has been developing new tools for ecotourism development at different scales. He published papers dealing with methodological aspects of ecotourism assessments and the identification of flagship species in top journals of tourism management and biological conservation. He is a member of the IUCN-TAPAS group - Tourism and Protected Areas Specialist Group and EcoClub - International Ecotourism Club. He is a reviewer for tourism and biological scientific journals. He had been attracting funds to develop his studies in desert environments.
[Host: José Carlos Brito, Biodiversity of Deserts and Arid Regions]
Image credits: BBC, TAP and Leaf Group Ltd.