Forensic water governance? Analyzing land and water use changes in North-Western Doñana (Spain)

Abstract

The region of North-Western Doñana is a key recharge area for the Doñana marshlands, one of the most important wetlands in Europe. In this region, the balance between a traditional economy compatible with environmental conservation has been altered significantly as a result of a disruptive change: the development of intensive agriculture of red berries -locally known as the 'red gold'-. The paper shows how a methodology based on remote sensing and GIS can provide a practical tool to identify and quantify intensive crops and especially, to determine their legal status. The paper describes this as an example of "geographic forensic science" for water governance, understood as a systematic method to gather and examine information on the territorial changes and events in the past with aim to use this information in law enforcement. The analysis shows how geospatial techniques can become an accessible and powerful tool for monitoring water abstractions and land use changes (public accountability), and to raise public participation and transparency, three key principles to advance towards a 'lighter side' of governance.

Combining multicriteria decision analysis and GIS to assess vulnerability within a protected area: An objective methodology for managing complex and fragile systems

“…In this study as well as in other studies, these distances are key indicators of intense groundwater removal, which produces desiccation in certain parts of the study area (Bustamante et al, 2016;Dimitriou et al, 2017). This phenomenon can be witnessed to the north of the study area, in an unprotected region where there are a large number of fields dedicated to berry cultivation (Bea Martínez et al, 2014). Our results also indicate that there is an area between the National Park and Natural Park, where the vulnerability increase dramatically, in agreement with previous studies ( Fig.…”