(MDPI, 2021) Hearn, Kyle Patrick; Álvarez-Mozos, Jesús; Giza eta Hezkuntza Zientziak; Ingeniaritza; Institute on Innovation and Sustainable Development in Food Chain - ISFOOD; Ciencias Humanas y de la Educación; Ingeniería; Gobierno de Navarra / Nafarroako Gobernua; Universidad Pública de Navarra / Nafarroako Unibertsitate Publikoa
The Arribes del Duero region spans the border of both Spain and Portugal along the Duero
River. On both sides of the border, the region boasts unique human‐influenced ecosystems. The
borderland landscape is dotted with numerous villages that have a history of maintaining and managing
an agrosilvopastoral use of the land. Unfortunately, the region in recent decades has suffered
from massive outmigration, resulting in significant rural abandonment. Consequently, the oncemaintained
landscape is evolving into a more homogenous vegetative one, resulting in a greater
propensity for wildfires. This study utilizes an interdisciplinary, integrated approach of “bottom
up” ethnography and “top down” remote sensing data from Landsat imagery, to characterize and
document the diachronic vegetative changes on the landscape, as they are perceived by stakeholders
and satellite spectral analysis. In both countries, stakeholders perceived the current changes and
threats facing the landscape. Remote sensing analysis revealed an increase in forest cover throughout
the region, and more advanced, drastic change on the Spanish side of the study area marked by
wildfire and a rapidly declining population. Understanding the evolution and history of this rural
landscape can provide more effective management and its sustainability.
