Land use modelling and the role of stakeholders in natural protected areas: the case of Donana, Spain

Doñana, a National Park since 1969, a UNESCO site since 1994 amongother protected area designations of national and international character, is acoastal dune and marshland ecosystem of outstanding importance for biodiversityand conservation at the mouth of the Guadalaquivir River, Southwest Spain.However, the Doñana natural area is seriously threatened by global change factorssuch as humanly induced climate change, habitat loss, overexploitation ofecosystem services, and pollution. Not all stakeholders are convinced of thebenefits of the national park, and management of Doñana, its environs andwatershed are the subject of intense disagreement. This interplay between naturalcharacteristics of great value with intense human pressure makes Doñana afascinating workshop for the study of global human environment interactions.Here, we discuss the role of stakeholders in the application of a cellular automatabasedmodel to Doñana and its environs and present the results of a series ofexercises undertaken with stakeholders to parametrize the model, something oftendone by researchers without stakeholder engagement. By engaging withstakeholders early in the project, feedback generated from workshops contributesto model development. Stakeholders are therefore contributors of empirical datafor the model as well as independent evaluators providing local and specialistknowledge.