Impact of massive development projects on ecosystem services in Mediterranean rural landscapes

Massive development projects bring with significant benefits at different scales, but generate impacts and alterations of ecosystem services at the local scale. Progress has been made in addressing these impacts, although knowledge gaps are still identified in relation to the appropriate scale of assessment and the consideration of cultural ecosystem services to the same degree as structural ones. Here, these gaps were addressed in a Mediterranean case study using appropriate methods (erosion modeling and Mann-Kendall phenological trend) to assess the structural impact on soil and vegetation, and a survey to examine the impact on the non-material benefits that people derive. The effect of drought has been deeply studied (land use dynamics and NDVI/NDWI monitoring) as a structural climatic factor not to be confused with the intrinsic impact of the project. It was found that severe erosion and the negative phenological trend are spatially associated with the project infrastructure. It was observed that the project has not been adequately accompanied by the preparation of indigenous people (education) to enable them to adapt to change and take profit from cultural ecosystem services. It was concluded that the project favored the places of activities at the expense of structural and cultural ecosystem services. Overall, despite the latter can give rise to opportunities for projects of international reach, these must go together with tangible and intangible benefits at the local scale, which can function as a lifting bridge for rooted and sustainable growth.