Landscape ecology and landscape approaches in the Iberian context: challenges, opportunities, and future prospects

Abstract

The Iberian Peninsula is a regional context wherevinterconnections between the ecological and socio-cultural values of landscapes are especially tight and complex. In the Iberian Peninsula, the natural, cultural, and socio-political heterogeneitiesnencountered across a long human and culturally valuable history have resulted in a rich and diverse set of landscapes. At the same time, such a landscape richness is in contrast with a particularly vulnerable situation in the face of climate change andintensifcation of human land use. Landscape ecology and landscape approaches bear the potential to help tackle a complex set of social-ecological challenges. Thus, this Collection includes 28 papers to provide an overview of landscape approaches and landscape ecological concepts, methods, and tools to address urgent territorial and social-ecological challenges. These contributions help advance our understanding of the multiple social-ecological processes on a range of spatial and temporal scales, shedding light on multiplicity of methods and approaches, and potential solutions. Ultimately, we expect that the many positive lessons and hurdles identifed in this collection will inspire studies around the world to promote landscape ecology approaches for sustaining territorial futures.