The Spanish–Portuguese border that runs between the region of the Algarve, the Alentejo district and the province of Huelva, is a stripe that has divided communities of similar territorial structures, which, after the deactivation of the border, has been inadequate territorial policies, due to the ignorance of its geography and idiosyncrasy. This work aims to characterize the border area and the men who inhabit it, having municipalities with borders as area of reference.

Turismo de frontera I

Sustainable Rural Development is essential to maintain active local communities and avoid depopulation and degradation of rural areas. Proper assessment of development in these territories is necessary to improve decision-making and to inform public policy, while ensuring biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services supply. Rural areas include high ecological value systems but the vulnerability of environmental components in development indicators has not been sufficiently pinpointed. The main objective of this work was to propose a new sustainable rural development composite indicator (nSRDI) while considering an environmental dimension indicator based on ecosystem services vulnerability and social and economic dimension indicators established using a sequentially Benefit of the Doubt-Data Envelopment Analysis (BoD-DEA) model. It aimed also to test effects of weighting methods on nSRDI. The composite indicator was applied to 10 regions (comarcas) in the Huesca province, Spain, producing a ranking of regions accordingly. The indicator was further tested through the analysis of the effect of an equal and optimum weighting method on scores and rankings of regions. Results showed substantial differences in nSRDI scores/rankings when vulnerability was added to the process, suggesting that the environmental dimension and the perspective from which it is conceived and applied matters when addressing sustainable rural development.

Assessing Sustainable Rural Development Based on Ecosystem Services Vulnerability

From the 90s to the present day, Rural Policies called LEADER Method have been put in place in the European rural areas (Initiatives LEADER and PRODER are also included). Its objective is to activate the development in rural areas, in particular the rural areas of Extremadura, and to reduce as much as possible their socioeconomic differences in urban

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El método Leader como polí­tica de desarrollo rural en Extremadura en los últimos 20 años (1991-2013)

•	Junta de Extremadura. Beca de Formacion en Investigacion PD12028; cofinanciada con Fondos FEDER y Fondos Sociales Europeos en el marco de la Beca GR15121

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25 Years of the Leader Initiative as European Rural Development Policy: The Case of Extremadura (SW Spain)

Dehesas form an agroforestry system which is highly developed in Extremadura as they occupy over 1,000,000 hectares. This is an extensive production system based on exploitation by stockbreeding with certain complements of agricultural and extractive products. It is however underexploited for activities other than agrolivestock production. As a result this research starts from the hypothesis that greater socio-economic development is possible in areas near this type of ecosystem if we consider that it is extremely attractive to tourism, at least in some of its forms. Complementing agrolivestock exploitation with tourist exploitation means that it is necessary to be familiar with the situation of the current availability of accommodation. In order to do so we analyse the main parameters characterising rural accommodation in Extremadura, Spain, the results of which reflect low occupancy for a large part of the year and consequently seasonal variation is high. This fact contrasts with the huge potential of dehesas for agritourism. In order to carry out this study we resort to the use of spatial statistics, in particular the grouping analysis. In its configuration we consider the location of the rural accommodation and its proximity to areas of dehesas made up of holm oaks (Quercus ilex) and cork oaks (Quecus suber) together with protected natural spaces, basing ourselves also on proximity to livestock trails and natural swimming pools. The results lead to the creation of 5 homogeneous groups of which 3 correspond to accommodation establishments capable of setting up agritourism and agriecotourism initiatives; this affects 45% of the establishments. However, no current initiatives of this type exist despite the fact that the National Reference Centre for Agritourism is located in Extremadura. From this can be inferred the need for implementing tourist policies to encourage the generating of tourist products specifically intended to exploit the potential of the dehesa as a complement to the current availability of rural accommodation.

https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/10/8/620/pdf

The Dehesas of Extremadura, Spain: A Potential for Socio-Economic Development Based on Agritourism Activities

Rural European Policies and their impact on Extremadura. The current situation of the rural areas in Extremadura, characterized by a traditionally agricultural economy and intense emigration, are analyzed. However, during the last two decades a series of socioeconomic transformations have occurred and these are synthesized in the tertiary sector of the rural economies, in a multisectoral system of incomes, and in the population’s stabilization. Recent processes and the actual impact that the rural policies have caused through the Rural Development Programmes will be analysed.

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Las políticas rurales europeas y su impacto en Extremadura

Se analiza, por una parte, el modelo rural en Extremadura y, por otra, el impacto de las politicas europeas de desarrollo rural territorial, a traves de la Iniciativa LEADER y del Programa PRODER, que se estan gestionando en la region desde 1991. El medio rural ha experimentado una serie de transformaciones recientes, que se sintetizan en la terciarizacion de las economias rurales, en un sistema de rentas plurisectoriales y en la estabilizacion de la poblacion, a las que han contribuido en alguna medida estas iniciativas europeas. Se planteara una metodologia, a traves de un analisis multivariado, para explicar y definir el modelo rural actual, los procesos recientes y el impacto concreto de estas politicas rurales.

El modelo rural y el impacto de los programas LEADER y PRODER en Extremadura (Propuesta metodológica)

Le developpement touristique de masse sans une planification soutenable dans un bonne partie des principales destinations nationales a provoque une serie d'impacts negatifs sur l'environnement, mais il faut toutefois en considerer d'autres comme les profondes transformations sociales dans les noyaux touristiques, et les couts d'activites dans d'autres secteurs qu'il a fallu sacrifier au nom de cette activite tertiaire.
Comme reponse a cette situation et dans le but de maintenir les principales ressources sur lesquelles reposent le tourisme, au milieu des annees soixante-dix commence a siurgir une serie de courants d'opinion qui defendent une activite respectueuse de l'environnement et de la societe. Une dizaine d'annees plus tard, ils seraient systematises avec l'apparition du concept «Toursime soutenable».
Cette facon d'envisager l'activite touristique a un importance transcendentale dans des espaces ou, comme en Estremadure, on a commence a la developper plus tardivement. Dans le but d'atteindre ces objectifs et de pouvoir contribuer a une planification efficace et coherente des ressources on propose l'utilisation d'un Systeme d'Information Geographique, avec un outil indispensable pour l'analyse integrale du tourisme.

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SIG para el desarrollo turístico en los espacios rurales de Extremadura

The process of population concentration in cities is a worldwide phenomenon—not yet finished—which has led to a widespread rural exodus and abandonment of rural areas. In Spain it occurred very abruptly from 1960, leaving numerous population centers abandoned in the northern half of the country. It is the so-called “empty Spain”. This problem has recently transcended from the local to the European level and has become part of all political agendas such as “the fight against the demographic challenge”, which the European Commission will finance in the next programming period 2021–2027. However, retaining the population in rural areas is a very complex problem that is difficult to solve. The aim of this article is to show that a polycentric system of towns, well distributed throughout the territory—as happens in Extremadura—has sufficient capacity to stabilize the population in the rural environment and is a viable and global alternative to the demographic challenge through the rururban partnerships and the integrated territorial investments. This article studies, as an empirical reality and demonstration effect, the autonomous community of Extremadura, an inland region bordering Portugal, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula, which has no abandoned nucleus and still maintains 50% of its population in rural areas, compared to a national average of less than 20%.

https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/9/8/254/pdf

Rururban Partnerships: Urban Accessibility and Its Influence on the Stabilization of the Population in Rural Territories (Extremadura, Spain)

In 2020, a special issue titled “Sustainable Rural Development: Strategies, Good Practices and Opportunities” was launched, in which 16 papers were published [...]

https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/10/4/366/pdf

José L. Gurría Gascón

Papers

Las políticas rurales europeas y su impacto en Extremadura

El modelo rural y el impacto de los programas LEADER y PRODER en Extremadura (Propuesta metodológica)

SIG para el desarrollo turístico en los espacios rurales de Extremadura

Rururban Partnerships: Urban Accessibility and Its Influence on the Stabilization of the Population in Rural Territories (Extremadura, Spain)

Sustainable Rural Development: Strategies, Good Practices and Opportunities