Methodological proposal to classify and delineate natural protected areas. Study case: Region of Extremadura, Spain

A significant change to Natural Protected Areas (NPAs) has been occurring worldwide. This change could cause concurrently potential damages related with NPA characteristics. Particularly, many regions of Spain face strong pressure due to their geographical, demographic and economic handicaps. This study presents a methodological proposal for properly classifying and delineating NPA, highlighted in a case region of Extremadura, being NATURA 2000 site of local heritage and one of less developed regions in European Union (EU). With Geographic Information System (GIS), the case region was firstly analyzed and then presented the real geo-socio-economic impact and environmental protection implementation, which urgently need to adopt a new methodological proposal with the complex and diverse legislations. Knowing the problems from the case region analyzed, the methodological proposal as the objective of this research describes how to define proper criteria, how to propose land use plan, and how to analyze socio-economic development with professional and public participation for NPA, and, therefore, to revitalize the problematic area. Thus, this methodological proposal as new valuable approach, which filling a niche of current outdated NPA, can be used and reapplied to other destinations with similar geographical characteristics for analyzing its current situations and predicting its future improvements.