<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Land is an essential resource and plays a vital role in providing food and food security, water, ecosystem services and territorial resilience. However, the past few decades have generated enormous and increasingly unsustainable pressures on land use. The objective of this research is to analyse the main land use changes in Spain between 1987 and 2011 using data provided by the Corine Land Cover (CLC) project. The general trends in land use change at CLC level 1 in this period, and more specifically the changes occurring at CLC level 3 in land destined for agricultural use are analysed. The main reasons that explain these changes, including policy influences, are then identified. The results show that the area occupied by buildings and infrastructure has doubled, agricultural land has decreased and irrigated land has increased; forested areas have also increased, but their ecological quality has been degraded. These trends question the future sustainability of that land use in the analysed period.</p></abstract>

Land is an essential resource and plays a vital role in providing food and food security, water, ecosystem services and territorial resilience. However, the past few decades have generated enormous and increasingly unsustainable pressures on land use. The objective of this research is to analyse the main land use changes in Spain between 1987 and 2011 using data provided by the Corine Land Cover (CLC) project. The general trends in land use change at CLC level 1 in this period, and more specifically the changes occurring at CLC level 3 in land destined for agricultural use are analysed. The main reasons that explain these changes, including policy influences, are then identified. The results show that the area occupied by buildings and infrastructure has doubled, agricultural land has decreased and irrigated land has increased; forested areas have also increased, but their ecological quality has been degraded. These trends question the future sustainability of that land use in the analysed period.

Land Use Changes in Spain. Drivers and Trends in Agricultural Land Use

ETSIAM, Department of Agricultural Economics

EU agrarian Law

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

{"article-title":"Land Use Changes in Spain. Drivers and Trends in Agricultural Land Use"}

Land is an essential resource and plays a vital role in providing food and food security, water, ecosystem services and territorial resilience. However, the...

Land Use Changes in Spain. Drivers and Trends in Agricultural Land Use

Published Online: Dec 31, 2018

Page range: 1 - 8

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/eual-2018-0006

Keywords
land use change, Spain, Corine Land Cover, sustainability

© 2018 María Mar Delgado-Serrano et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Land Use Changes in Spain. Drivers and Trends in Agricultural Land Use

Published Online: Dec 31, 2018

Page range: 1 - 8

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/eual-2018-0006

Keywordsland use change, Spain, Corine Land Cover, sustainability

© 2018 María Mar Delgado-Serrano et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Keywords
land use change, Spain, Corine Land Cover, sustainability