Propuesta metodológica para integrar la biodiversidad y los lugares de interés geológico en la gestión de áreas protegidasEl ejemplo de la reserva de la biosfera de Urdaibai

Abstract

Management of any protected area requires an understanding of their natural diversity (biodiversity and geodiversity) and of the linkages between both. Thus, this paper aims to provide a framework for the integration of biologically or geologically valuable areas into a natural diversity network that may be used for nature conservation and management plans of protected areas. We used as study case the Urdaibai Biosphere reserve (UBR) because its management plan it actually under revision. The results indicated that almost half of the geosites did not show spatial congruence with biodiversity hotspots; it means that, conserving only high biodiversity areas is not sufficient to conserve the natural heritage. Moreover, those geosites that showed spatial congruence with biodiversity hotspots despite being in areas legally protected were unprotected because they had not targeted conservation measures. Therefore, we proposed to create effective conservation measures for geosites and their integration into the conservation and management plans of existing protected areas. Moreover, we concluded that the proposed framework is very useful for the integration of biodiversity and geodiversity into the management of protected areas.