Spatial characterization of marine socio-ecological systems: A Portuguese case study

There is a lack of available methods to understand the associations between land and sea in social and ecological systems. This work adapts a methodology to explore how coastal-marine areas in the Portuguese Mainland Subdivision spatially differ in socioeconomic and marine environmental characteristics. The methodology used a combined spatial analytical approach of ecological, social, economic, and land-cover variables. The outputs of this work were Marine Socio-Ecological Categories (MSEC) mapped along the coast. Results show contrasting ecological and societal conditions across the coastal municipalities. The northern region and some parts of the Algarve coast are experiencing higher socioeconomic development but are also facing higher resource demands and placing more pressure on marine and coastal ecosystems. MSEC categories are valuable to understand how different conditions may be dealt with at regional and national contexts in future management and planning policies. Mapping socio-ecological systems aid sustainable economic development, but further research is needed to improve the system analysis. This study shows that there is no land-sea divide and the interactions between both systems should be reflected in the existent policy framework.