Percepción social de la calidad estética del paisaje agrícola mediterráneo: los frutales en floración de la Región de Murcia
- José Antonio Albaladejo-García
- José Ángel Zabala
- María Isabel Rodríguez-Valero
- Francisco Alcon 1
- José Miguel Martínez-Paz
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1
Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena
info
ISSN: 1699-6887
Year of publication: 2023
Volume: 119
Issue: 3
Pages: 288-308
Type: Article
More publications in: ITEA, información técnica económica agraria: revista de la Asociación Interprofesional para el Desarrollo Agrario ( AIDA )
Abstract
The aesthetic quality of the agricultural landscape is a cultural ecosystem service (ES) provided by an agroecosystem that has a positive effect on the health and well-being of the population. In recent decades, land use changes in agroecosystems have resulted in a modification and fragmentation of the agricultural landscape, with associated landscape variation and consequent variation of the ES. In this context, the aim of this paper is to estimate social preferences for the aesthetic quality of the agricultural landscape and to determine the relative importance of its component attributes. For this purpose, the flowering of Cieza (Murcia) is used as a case study, integrated in a landscape that is highly representative of semi-arid Mediterranean agroecosystems. Using the choice experiments technique, the perceived usefulness and relative importance of the different landscape attributes were obtained. The results showed people’s preferences for landscapes with a high presence of fruit trees, natural vegetation and traditional water features and with an absence of buildings and asphalt roads. These results provide agroecosystem managers with additional value for fruit orchard management focused on conserving the most naturalised elements of the landscape in order to promote a higher social valuation of this agroecosystem.