Users expectations and the need for differential beach management frameworks along the Costa Brava: Urban vs. natural protected beaches
Introduction
Nowadays, it is recognized that human activities and the ecosystems in which they occur should be managed as a whole (human-in-nature concept, Bekes and Folke, 1998). This was one of the fundamental contributions of the Ecosystem Approach and has resulted in the emergence of the concept of social–ecological systems, reflecting the inextricable link between society and ecology (e.g. Grumbine, 1994, Grumbine, 1997, Curtin and Prellezo, 2010). This linkage is apparent in coastal areas, where the beauty of coastal ecosystems coupled with a rather high accessibility and the many services offered by these ecosystems makes the coasts a magnet for the world's human population (Martínez et al., 2007). Within these areas, beaches are social–ecological systems where plainly physical, ecological, social and economic dimensions interact, providing several functions and services leading to improved human well-being (e.g. De Groot, 1992, Costanza et al., 1997, MEA, 2003, Farber et al., 2006, Beaumont et al., 2007, Brenner et al., 2010, Lozoya et al., 2011).
In order to attain the most ecologically sustainable, socially equitable and economically efficient development of these social–ecological systems, management requires the consideration and integration of all these dimensions (James, 2000, Ariza et al., 2008b, Tett et al., 2011). Particularly for beaches, where policing is extremely challenging, the integration results crucial to properly manage these system, addressing the complexities of interests and perspectives, leading to a more transparent and fair decision-making process (Marin et al., 2009, McFadden et al., 2009). Thus beach management should consider social drivers, which could produce significant environmental impacts at local, regional and global scales. Hence, data which reveal motivations, perceptions and human behaviors ought to be incorporated into management plans. In this sense, social participation and public engagement have been emphasized as critical for successful public management and thus as a cornerstone of integrated coastal management (ICM) processes (Hildebrand, 1997, Olsen et al., 1997, Roca et al., 2009, Ballinger et al., 2010, Areizaga et al., 2012a, Areizaga et al., 2012b).
Although beaches can provide several protective, recreational and natural functions, in regions where coastal tourism is one of the main economic drivers (e.g. NW Mediterranean), only recreation has been traditionally prioritized by beach managers (e.g. Sardá and Fluvià, 1999, Yepes, 2005, Valdemoro and Jiménez, 2006, Ariza et al., 2008a). Thus, management focused almost exclusively on fulfill user expectations, optimizing this commercially oriented function (i.e. the greatest economic return as quickly as possible) without taking other values or characteristics into consideration (Roca and Villares, 2008, Ariza et al., 2008b, Ariza et al., 2010). This lack of perspective and short-term vision, which has fostered intensive urbanization and development in coastal areas, has been one of the main responsible on the anthropization and degradation of coastal systems (e.g. Sardá and Fluvià, 1999, Sardá, 2001, Barragán, 2003, Suárez de Vivero and Rodríguez Mateos, 2005). Furthermore, this partial management that is largely standardized and poorly adapted to beach characteristics, settings and users, has led to the homogenization of beach management practices. Thus different potential beaches with different users are managed with the same strategies (Nelson and Botterill, 2002, Ariza et al., 2008b, Vaz et al., 2009).
Precisely, regarding userś nature and their expectations, although beach quality criteria (even under commercially driven management models) should be based at least partly on users’ opinions, their expectations are only sporadically taken into account (Morgan, 1999, Ariza et al., 2008b, Roca and Villares, 2008). That is still occurring despite that since 1990s the need of public engagement in coastal management was highlighted as an essential component of Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) processes (Morgan et al., 1993, De Ruyk et al., 1995, Breton et al., 1996, Pereira da Silva, 2004, Marin et al., 2009, Roca et al., 2009, Ernoul, 2010, Ariza, 2011, Areizaga et al., 2012a). To make ICZM a reality in the political agenda, it is essential an informed and continually engaged participation of public, private and voluntary sectors (Ernoul, 2010). Thus as stakeholders, users should be considered in beach management since increasing participation is “at the core of successful ICZM stories”, entailing a key further step toward sustainable policies (Areizaga et al., 2012a).
“Community participation has been proposed to open debate, contribute to policy formulation, increase government accountability, build support for agency programs and reduce community tensions”, but sometimes it is not easy to mobilize civil societies, since they are not accustomed to participate in public management. Other times the desired institutional outcomes are not always achieved (Ernoul, 2010). Thus, although public participation in management is encouraged by many laws and conventions, even in democracies, decision-making has traditionally been done by a single stakeholder following a strict hierarchic order (Areizaga et al., 2012a). Spanish coastal management is not an exception, traditionally being the responsibility of national government, with just some steps toward more inclusive forms of management adopted in the last ten years (Barragán, 2010, Areizaga et al., 2012a). As has already been said, it is necessary to involve strong political will and commitment at the beginning of any ICZM program (e.g. Chua, 1993, Cicin-Sain et al., 1995, Clark, 1997, Olsen et al., 1997), since the objectives of a sustainable development are not always “compatible” with institutional goals and visions.
With the aim of revert the homogenization and promote a sustainable beach management, the objective of this paper was to asses and compare users’ expectations and perceptions in two antagonistic beaches of the Costa Brava (urban setting vs. protected setting), in order to identify particular requirements suggesting the necessity of a differential management. In this sense, it was assumed that in a natural protected beach users would prefer “nature” rather than “services”, while the opposite trend was presumed for an urban beach where users are probably more habituated and demanding about beach facilities.
Section snippets
The study site
The assessment was carried out in two antagonist beaches within the Costa Brava (Northwestern Mediterranean coast, Spain): Sant Pere Pescador (natural and protected setting) and ŚAbanell beach (urban and unprotected setting) (Fig. 1).
Methods
In order to assess users’ motivations, expectations and priorities, we conducted a survey based on a self-administered questionnaire. During two consecutive days at the peak of the bathing season (i.e. August 2010 for Sant Pere Pescador, and August 2011 for ŚAbanell beach), two interviewers followed a zigzag path along the entire beach, detailing the survey objectives and explaining the questionnaire structure to visitors staying at the beach. The response time for the questionnaire was
Results
A total of 251 and 207 useful questionnaires were collected in the Sant Pere Pescador and ŚAbanell beach, respectively. These results allowed the description and comparison of users’ profile, motivations, priorities, perceptions and WTP to improve management in these antagonistic beaches.
Discussion
At first glance, the results of these surveys suggest that users’ motivations, priorities, and expectations in these two antagonistic beaches are not notably different. Main motivations to visit these beaches mirrored the classical reasons already expressed for Mediterranean tourist destinations, such as “recreation” (e.g. Blakemore et al., 2002) and particularly “swimming and sunbathing” (e.g. Breton et al., 1996, Roca et al., 2008). Such motivations are therefore in line with the usual
Conclusions
Behind the apparent homogeneity in perceptions and expectations of users, significant differences between these two antagonistic beaches would support our initial hypothesis. Although certain normal preferences (e.g. sand and sea water cleanliness, safety) were common in both beaches, natural attributes were the priority in Sant Pere Pescador, as well as facilities in ŚAbanell beach. The significantly higher %WTP in the protected natural beach could suggest a greater concern for proper
Acknowledgments
This work was carried out within the framework of MeVaPlaya II (CSO2009-14589-C03), KNOWSEAS (FP7-EU) and VuCoMA (CTM2008-05597/MAR) projects. JPL was supported by a pre-doctoral MUTIS-AECID fellowship. The work of the third author JAJ has been done in the framework of the PaiRisC-M research project funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (CTM2011-29808). The authors wish to thank Susanna Baiardo, Maria Casadesús, Miguel Ballen and Carlos Quiroz for field assistance, and
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