Abstract |
Proper and effective management of public use in protected natural areas (PNA) is closely linked to having an updated diagnosis of their state. The duty to conserve, implicit in these kinds of areas, requires having sufficient information to justify decision-making. According to Leung et al. (2015), Cessford & Muhar (2003), between a long list of authors, three basic kinds of data need to be considered: 1) the influx of visitors, understood as the total number of users who visit the PNA annually; 2) the recreational, sports and tourist use of the area, which summarizes the number and distribution of user-visits, including the characterization of the different activities carried out during visits; and 3) the profile of the user-visitors. In the case of peri-urban PNAs, such as the Serra de Collserola Natural Park (SCNP), which is also a Natura 2000 Special Area for Conservation (SAC), this kind of information is even more necessary and relevant due to the intense pressure these sites tend to experience, not only in terms of visitor influx but also in terms of the diversity of uses that occur there and also considering their importance from a nature conservation perspective. |