A Geoethical Approach to Unlock a Social-Ecological Governance Problem: The Case of the Tordera River (Catalonia, Spain)

Abstract

This paper introduces a geoethical dilemma in the coastal zone of the Tordera Delta as a case study with the objective of showing the contribution of geoethics to the governance of coastal social-ecological systems. The Tordera Delta, located in Costa Brava, Catalonia, constitutes a social-ecological system that suffers from intense anthropization mainly due to tourist pressures causing a cascade of different environmental problems impacting the Delta functions. The massive sun and beach tourism brought human well-being and economic development to the region, but has caused an intense urbanization of the coastline that altered the coastal dynamics, eroded its beaches, and degraded many ecosystem services, a process that is being worsened today by the climate change events such as the rising sea level or the magnitude of the storms (“llevantades”), typical of the Western Mediterranean coast. Posing the problem of governance in terms of a geoethical dilemma enables discerning among the values connected to the intrinsic meaning of coastal landscapes and the instrumental values that see beaches as goods (commodities) for tourism uses. Finally, the paper reflects on options to overcome this dichotomy of values by considering meaning values as elements that forge cultural identities, contributing to highlighting this societal challenge in the Tordera Delta area, as a case study that can be useful for similar ecosystems.

Shaping the Noosphere: Geoethical values and spiritual resistance in Terres de l’Ebre, Catalonia, Spain

“…(Moiseev et al, 1983, p. 1). Humans relate to the Geosphere through technocratic artifacts and its technocracies on the basis of scientific-technological knowledge and institutional frames (Bellaubi & Lagunov, 2020;Bellaubi & Arasa, 2020;Bellaubi et al, 2021), defining a reality shaped by human and geosphere agency. This reality is formed by a diversity of organizational autopoeitic subsystems (Luhmann, 1995, in Salcedo & Ortiz, 2014, which under Anthropocenic conditions are characterized by a rapidly growing alteration of biogeochemical cycles by human actions (impacts) that, in turn, disturb geodynamic processes affecting anthropic socio-economic activities (vulnerability).…”

“…"How we perceive objects is always shaped by how we conceive and act on the object with the sets of tools, concepts, expectations, and values that we bring to the object" (Riechmann et al, 2019). Geoethical dilemmas are a method to deconstruct a conceptual reality to understand and sense, to interpret, the values underpinning technocratic artifacts and their technocracies (Bellaubi & Lagunov, 2020;Bellaubi & Arasa, 2020;Bellaubi et al, 2021;Peppoloni et al, 2019). Technocratic artifacts do not direct human actions; rather, humans, although they may be affected by their outputs, are free to make decisions (Prada-Rodriguez, 2019).…”

“…Geoethical dilemmas are presented in form of a payoff matrix representing the two main stakeholders' attitudes reflecting instrumental and intrinsic values in their relation with the Geosphere, leading to four possible scenarios; although possible outcomes are multiple depending on how we formulate the geoethical dilemma. Scenarios are geoprospective, possible and/or desirable situations of the Noosphere and may be represented through maps (Bellaubi & Arasa, 2020;Bellaubi et al, 2021). Scenarios are quantitatively described in terms of Geosphere governability, meaning human impact (I) on the biogeochemical cycles of the Geosphere and the resulting socio-economic vulnerability (V) of the population exposed to the alteration of the geodynamic process.…”

“…The human's attitude scores 1, otherwise it scores 0. Social costs or gains score 1 or 0, and are subtracted (if the actor's attitude is 1) or added (if the actor's attitude is 0), respectively (Bellaubi et al, 2021). Social costs and gains are related to socio-cultural reciprocity.…”

“…Therefore, humans may not be interested in reproducing their values in their attitudes. Conversely, for groups with less social cohesion or a more open-mind, the social costs transfer into social gains, or the "innovator" attitude (Bellaubi et al, 2021). Scenarios scored with attitude 1 for both stakeholders correspond to the current Geosphere governability situation, whilst scenarios with higher credibility may be associated to ecological justice.…”