Evolution of land cover in the special area of conservation of Monchique (Southern Portugal): Have the objectives of the Natura 2000 network been achieved (1995–2018)?

• Autor(a) principal: Raposo, Mauro A. M.
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Outros Autores: Nunes, Leonel J. R., Pinto-Gomes, Carlos J.
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.5/29344
• topic: endangered species; geobotany; IUCN; land cover change; landscape mosaic; nature politics; territorial planning

The Natura 2000 Network, as the European Union's ecological network, aims toensure the long-term conservation of Europe's most threatened species and habitats,helping to stop the loss of biodiversity. Based on this assumption, the changes in landcover in the Special Area of Conservation (SAC) of Monchique between 1995 and2018 are analysed and related to identify favourable and unfavourable policies con-cerning the habitats and respective species conservation. The most important landcovers are compared with the habitats and species legally protected at the Nationaland European level, as well as the Red List of Vascular Flora of Mainland Portugal. Asmain results can be highlighted the increase in the forest area occupied by species suchasEucalyptus globulusandPinus pinaster, and a reduction in the areas of grazing andshrub species. Can also be noted an increase in the areas covered by invasive species,which may be associated with the abandonment of rural areas. We identified 21 taxawith high heritage interest in the Monchique SAC, occurring mainly in forest habitats,namely 91E0, 92A0, 9240, 9330 and 9340, which should be considered in the elabora-tion of future Territorial Management Plans. Thus, it can be concluded that the objec-tives initially stipulated by the Natura 2000 Network were not fully achieved withinthe Monchique SAC. Alternative management methods must be studied to allow con-servation in a territory with a high land consolidation and low population density