Geografía, cambio global y sostenibilidad. Comunicaciones del XXVII Congreso de la Asociación Española de Geografía Tomo I Naturaleza, transformación territorial y paisaje

Abstract

The arid aeolian sedimentary systems in the Canary Islands have suffered notable environmental impacts. The transition from traditional land uses to other more recent uses has generated a series of environmental changes that are reflected both in the vegetation and in the aeolian sedimentary dynamics. The aim of this research is to reconstruct and analyze these processes and to know the response capacity of these ecosystems to anthropogenic alterations. The methodology used to make the historical reconstruction of land uses and their socio-environmental consequences combines historical and current sources under the framework of Historical ecology. The historical land uses have been analyzed and the environmental consequences on the studied systems have been evaluated. The main results show that the use of vegetation was decisive in the transformation of the systems between 1750 and 1960 for El Jable and Jandía; while, for El Médano, the extraction of aggregates and the creation of an aerodrome are responsible for the alteration of the sedimentary system. In all three systems, when land uses cease and the systems are protected, although there is a recovery, new environmental impacts also appear and the legacy of the existing ones is still notorious.