Restoration of badlands and natural capital: an application in Saldaña (Palencia, northern Spain)

Abstract

The environment provides many necessary services for a plethora of human activities related to that are being acknowledged as our ecosystems degrade; therefore, ecosystem-based solutions are becoming increasingly more important. Hydrologic restorations (HRs) apply this type of ecosystem approach; there are multiple examples around the Mediterranean area executed since the beginning of the twentieth century. One good example of these restoration-type solutions can be seen in the badlands of Saldaña (Palencia, Spain). This case has been particularly successful in stopping gully erosion from badlands. Despite its importance for the well-being of the inhabitants of Saldaña and surroundings, the economic effects of these services which were put into place by this HR have never been assessed. In the present study, four different and compatible ecosystem restored services have been valued in monetary terms. For their aggregation, an innovative approach has been taken using the analytic hierarchy process methodology, so the weight of each ecosystem service (ES) can be determined. The economic flow of these ESs has been calculated in terms of annual income and updated values, from which natural capital increase in the population of Saldaña can be assessed. After analysing the results, it can be concluded that the village has earned more than seven million euros, which, in turn, generates important benefits to its inhabitants.

Keywords:

• ecosystem services
• hydrologic restoration
• environment valuation
• badlands

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the Duero Basin Authority, for facilitating project’s information and technical support, and to Tragsatec, for completing some of the surveys and media facilitation. We are also grateful to a reviewer for his insightful suggestions which greatly improved this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.