The Valuation of Ecosystemics Services of Almond Tree Cultivation in the Plateau of Eastern Andalusia

En este trabajo se presenta un proyecto de valoración de los servicios de los ecosistemas provistos por los agroecosistemas áridos del sureste español, para cuya realización se toma como caso de estudio el cultivo del almendro en el altiplano de Andalucía Oriental. El objetivo de la investigación es ofrecer una valoración holística de los servicios suministrados por este tipo de ecosistemas. Para su consecución, los enfoques valorativos a emplear incluyen tanto el biofísico (a través de la valoración de expertos mediante una metodología participativa) como el socioeconómico.This paper presents a draft valuation of ecosystem services provided by arid agroecosystems in southeastern Spain, for whose realization is taken as a case study the almond cultivation in the highlands of eastern Andalusia. The objective of the research is to provide a holistic assessment of services provided by these ecosystems. For which, the evaluative approaches employed include both the biophysical (expert assessment through a participatory methodology) as the socio-economic

Rainwater Harvesting for Agricultural Irrigation: An Analysis of Global Research

Within a context of scarce water resources for agriculture, rainwater harvesting constitutes a promising alternative that has been studied by different disciplines in recent years. This article analyses the dynamics of global research on rainwater harvesting for agricultural irrigation over the last two decades. To do this, qualitative systematic analysis and quantitative bibliometric analysis have been carried out. The results reveal that this line of research is becoming increasingly important within research on irrigation. Environmental sciences and agricultural and biological sciences are the most relevant subject areas. Agricultural Water Management, Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, and Irrigation and Drainage are the journals that have published the most articles on the subject. India, China, the United States (USA), South Africa, and the Netherlands are the countries that lead this line of research. Although significant progress has been made in this subject area, it is necessary to increase the number of studies on the capacity of rainwater harvesting systems to cover irrigation needs in different farming contexts, the factors that determine their adoption by farmers, the economic and financial feasibility of their implementation, and their contribution to mitigating global climate change

An Analysis of Global Research Trends on Greenhouse Technology: Towards a Sustainable Agriculture

Greenhouse farming is an agricultural management system that has demonstrated its efficiency in intensifying food production. These systems constitute a feasible alternative for ensuring food supply, which is one of the greatest challenges faced by humankind in the twenty-first century. Technology has been able to meet the challenges related to greenhouse farming in both contributing to overcoming its limitations, correcting adverse impacts and ensuring system sustainability. The objective of this article is to analyse the global research trends in greenhouse technology over the last two decades, in order to identify the main driving agents, the most outstanding research lines and possible gaps in the literature. Different methodologies have been used for the analysis; both quantitative and qualitative. The principal results show that there are different relevant lines of research related to different aspects of greenhouse farming: the use of water for irrigation, the design of the optimum structure of the greenhouse, conserving the soil in the best growing conditions, energy consumption of the system as a whole, climate control within the facility and pest control. The research is characterized by the being composed largely of ad hoc studies, which hinders the international collaboration between researchers and institutions. The research approach has shifted from being focused on increasing production and cost savings to aspects related to resource conservation and sustainability

Forest Ecosystem Services: An Analysis of Worldwide Research

The relevance of forests to sustain human well-being and the serious threats they face have led to a notable increase of research works on forest ecosystem services during the last few years. This paper analyses the worldwide research dynamics on forest ecosystem services in the period from 1998 to 2017. A bibliometric analysis of 4284 articles was conducted. The results showed that the number of published research articles has especially increased during the last five years. In total, 68.63% of the articles were published in this period. This research line experiences a growing trend superior to the general publishing trend on forest research. In spite of this increase, its relative significance within the forest research is still limited. The most productive subject areas corresponded to Environmental Science, Agricultural and Biological Sciences and Social Sciences Economic topics are understudied. The scientific production is published in a wide range of journals. The three first publishing countries are United States, China and the United Kingdom. The most productive authors are attached to diverse research centres and their contributions are relatively recent. A high level of international cooperation has been observed between countries, institutions and authors. The findings of this study are useful for researchers since they give them an overview of the worldwide research trends on forest ecosystem services

Sustainable Irrigation in Agriculture: An Analysis of Global Research

Irrigated agriculture plays a fundamental role as a supplier of food and raw materials. However, it is also the world’s largest water user. In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of studies analyzing agricultural irrigation from the perspective of sustainability with a focus on its environmental, economic, and social impacts. This study seeks to analyze the dynamics of global research in sustainable irrigation in agriculture between 1999 and 2018, including the main agents promoting it and the topics that have received the most attention. To do this, a review and a bibliometric analysis were carried out on a sample of 713 articles. The results show that sustainability is a line of study that is becoming increasingly more prominent within research in irrigation. The study also reveals the existence of substantial differences and preferred topics in the research undertaken by different countries. The priority issues addressed in the research were climatic change, environmental impact, and natural resources conservation; unconventional water resources; irrigation technology and innovation; and water use efficiency. Finally, the findings indicate a series of areas related to sustainable irrigation in agriculture in which research should be promoted

The Sustainable Management of Metals: An Analysis of Global Research

The objective of this study was to analyze research trends in the field of sustainable management of metals on a global level between 1993 and 2017. To do so, a bibliometric analysis was carried out on a total of 6967 articles. The results revealed the growing interest in this research field, particularly over the last five year-period during which 63% of all articles were published. The three journals in which most articles had been published were the Journal of Cleaner Production, ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering, and Chemsuschem. The countries that published the most articles were China, the United States, India, Germany, and the United Kingdom. A sizeable network of collaboration has been established between countries for the joint publication of studies. The main lines of research have been focused on metal decontamination in water and soil, waste management oriented towards reuse and recycling, and the innovation of processes for cleaner and more efficient production. The results revealed the need for comprehensive studies that integrate different disciplines within the same analytical framework, and to promote research that contributes to the different dimensions of sustainability (environmental, economic, and social)

Recursos endógenos mineros y desarrollo territorial. El caso de la comarca del Mármol (Almería, España)

La comarca del Mármol, en Almería, posee el mayor yacimiento de España de esta roca ornamental. Gracias a los planes de desarrollo de las últimas décadas del pasado siglo, es de los pocos territorios interiores de Andalucía con una destacada actividad industrial y que ha conseguido fijar la población. El clima empresarial generado ha impulsado la investigación, apostando por la calidad y abriéndose al exterior, y ha introducido en el mercado nuevos productos no basados en el mármol, que son de gran ayuda para la sostenibilidad de la actividad económica. El distrito industrial que conforman estas empresas ha evolucionado, ajustándose a las circunstancias y mostrando una elevada resiliencia. Economic globalisation and the resulting proximity between countries and regions, have not only failed to obliterate local areas, but have indeed highlighted their relevance. In parallel with the evolution of the globalising process, and in numerous cases, the territorial dimension has increased in value, as a necessary pillar for progress and for the benefit of the population, driven by development programmes, in which endogenous resources and sustainability are paramount. One of the bases of this process lies in the rescue by Becattini of the Marshallian industrial district, which explains the success of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is specialised production systems. In the north of the Almería province, in the Filabres mountain range, exist the greatest marble quarries in the whole of the Spanish territory, both in terms of volume and of quality the set of towns and villages located in the area where this natural resource is extracted and processed is known as the Marble Region. The best known variety is Macael white marble, which has been quarried since the first centuries of our era and has been used to beautify a vast number of constructions, among them the Alhambra in Granada and the Monastery of El Escorial. From an analysis of the history and evolution of the marble industry in the area, the following landmarks need to be highlighted. Until the end of the first third of the 19th century, marble was a communally owned asset, which led to the proliferation of a number of very small quarries. The transition to private ownership and therefore to local council management, was unable to stop the surge of smallholds, from which other problems derived, such as the use of poor technical means and the chaos caused by waste/rubble dumps, characteristics that have plagued this sector for almost a century and a half. During the first decades of the second half of the 20th century, extraction was carried out in many quarries with very small fronts, by reticent entrepreneurs who were reluctant to invest, since their rights to open shaft mining had a time limit, established in the permit granted by the local council, which was the owner of the terrain and of the mining concessions. This is one of the reasons which explain why nearly all quarry workers/entrepreneurs were local, with hardly any presence of capital from outside. The marble processing panorama was very similar; small factories and workshops predominated with a reduced capacity for production and dated machinery, unable to supply demands for quality and quantity, and thus with scarce commercial potential. As the decade of the 80s started, the marble industry, weighed down by its own internal problems, worsened due to decreasing demand and to the precarious economic situation in general, had sunk in a deep crisis. In those years, public administration in agreement with agents and local institutions, and counting on their total involvement, set in motion several local development plans that proved to be crucial in modernising the marble industry in Macael. In 1983, an Action Plan was initiated and in 1996 a Strategic Plan. The industrial restructure undertaken changed the entrepreneurial scene completely. In the extraction area, the Plan Director de la Sierra de Macael (Macael Mountain Range Director Plan) introduced “business units” —areas of similar characteristics consisting of several quarries— which by unifying various tasks, allowed for a more rational mechanisation, improved continuity in marble supply, better organised enterprises and increased safety. A vastly improved use of resources, together with lower extraction costs, increased the lifespan of the marble deposits (Carretero, 1995: 345-346). With regard to product transformation, the restructure laid down the foundations for resizing the companies and updating the technology; many microenterprises that produced building materials and were hardly able to compete with any success were re-orientated towards craftsmanship. Besides tackling the problems of the companies and their infrastructure, the plans also considered people, promoting training and so an optimistic atmosphere was created, with expectations that spurred the initiatives of many entrepreneurs and encouraged common initiatives. Thanks to these strategies, local development, which until then had been a crowd of quarries, was transformed into an industrial district with great drive and resilience. When the 20th century gave way to the 21st, other definitely competitive advantages were added to the comparative advantage of possessing a unique natural resource, (research and innovation, qualified and specialised staff, very high quality finished products, marketing channels). The district had ceased to be an extraction centre to become a product processing and transformation centre, both from local and external quarries, which reduced their dependence on local raw materials and acquiring higher value and better offers. In this process, international expansion has played a vital role, based on research and innovation carried out by one of the companies, Cosentino, during the decade of the 80s and that would become a world leading firm for artificial agglomerates, hardly using any local raw materials. Around the middle of the second decade of the 21st century, the composition of the district is very different from what it was 20 years ago. A great dominant enterprise, Cosentino, has made it presence felt, producing an income level from the factory located in the area that represents 90, 8% of the whole district, around 12 small enterprises, of which only 4 employ more than 20 workers and have a relevant external projection, and a pack consisting of scores of microenterprises, which in many cases carry out work for the ones previously mentioned. Although Cosentino carries a lot of weight in the district, around del 95% of its billing is due to artificial agglomerates (Silestone, Dekton…), which places it in a particular situation, since the activity of the other companies revolves around marble extraction, processing and transformation. Besides the employment it generates, Cosentino’s decision to maintain its headquarters and a considerable part of its activities within the district has had a highly positive impact, like the support and collaboration it offers other companies in different areas or its involvement in educational or sociocultural projects, etc. Furthermore, because of its size, it is the main funding entity of professional institutions and associations of which it is a member and has attracted important public investment that has improved services and infrastructure. On the other hand, the firm commitment of the leading companies to offer a first class product, together with their on-site location, and their efforts to increase their presence in outside markets, has developed activities in collaboration with smaller companies, a situation which is yielding very positive results. Recognition of Macael marble, as protected geographical indication (PGI) which is currently being processed and is expected to come through in the near future, will guarantee its high quality, facilitate product differentiation and protect it from dishonest competition. Regardless of the difficulties that this activity has encountered through time, due to the long standing link of the district inhabitants with the marble industry that has spread through centuries, it has a strong socio-territorial component, with an important presence of supporting activities, a highly specialised labour market with firm social and cultural connections. All these occurrences, which remind us of the Marshallian district, where “the mysteries of the trade become no mysteries, but are as it were in the air and children learn many of them unconsciously” Alfred (Marshall, 1890: 198 The Principles of Economics), a theory that can be matched with no difficulty to the properties that Becattini attributes to industrial areas, “socioterritorial entity characterised by the active presence of both a community of people and a population of firms in one naturally and historically bounded area…the community and the firms tend as it were to merge” (Becattini, 1992: 62-63). As it has occurred in other cases, the evolution of the district has led to the surge of a great enterprise in its midst, in this case, a multinational leading company in its products, which at the same time drives the whole set up and hardly uses any local raw material in its preparation process. On the other hand, history reflects the high capability and resilience demonstrated by the district’s population. There are several issues that cannot be disregarded when considering the future of the area and of the socioeconomic development of the Marble Region. These appear to depend on Cosentino’s prestige and relevance. What would happen if it failed? What long-term measures could be taken to minimise the impact of a possible decrease in activity? Due, for example to the relocation of part of its activities? It is important to bear in mind that Cosentino is at present a first generation family business

La internacionalización del cluster del mármol de Almería y la multinacional Cosentino

En la década de los ochenta del pasado siglo se configuró en la comarca de Macael (Almería) un cluster industrial en torno a la extracción y elaboración del mármol. En el seno de este cluster se han seguido dos estrategias diferentes para abordar el proceso de internacionalización. Por una parte, las pymes han optado por la integración vertical a través de la cooperación intracluster. Y por otra, la multinacional Cosentino ha seguido una estrategia basada en la creación de productos exclusivos, la inversión en marketing y el control del canal de distribución.In the 1980s, an industrial cluster around the marble extraction and processing arose in the region of Macael in Almería (Southeast of Spain). Within this cluster, two main strategies for internazionalition have been followed. On the one hand, small and medium enterprises have integrated themselves vertically through an intracluster cooperation. On the other hand, the international enterprise Cosentino has specialized its strategy on the creation of exclusive products, marketing investment and the control of the distribution channel

Valoración de los ecoservicios provistos por agroecosistemas en Andalucía: un estado de la cuestión

El estudio de los ecosistemas y los servicios que estos proveen se ha convertido en un área de investigación destacada en las últimas décadas. La valoración de estos servicios resulta de vital importancia para el diseño de políticas de conservación y de gestión de los ecosistemas. El objetivo principal del presente trabajo es mostrar cuál es el estado de la investigación en la valoración de eco-servicios provistos por agroecosistemas en Andalucía. Para ello se realiza una revisión sistemática de los trabajos publicados indexados en la base de datos del Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) entre los años 2004 y 2015. Los resultados indican que los estudios sobre valoración de ecoservicios en Andalucía son muy recientes, predominan las publicaciones realizadas desde el campo de las Ciencias Naturales, los trabajos que realizan una valoración puntual y desde un enfoque económico. Las zonas más estudiadas son los Parques Nacionales de Sierra Nevada y de Doñana y la provincia de Almería. Y los agroecosistemas más valorados han sido los agroforestales.The study of ecosystems and the services they provide has become an important area of research in recent decades. The valuation of these services is vital for the design of conservation policies and management of ecosystems. The main objective of this paper is to show what is the state of the research on the valuation of ecosystem services provided by agroecosystems in Andalusia. This requires a systematic review of published papers indexed on the database of the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) between 2004 and 2015. The results indicate that studies about valuation of ecosystem services in Andalusia are very recent, predominating the publications from the field of natural science, papers that makes a timely assessment and from an economic approach. The mosts tudied areas are National Parks Sierra Nevada and Doñana and the province of Almería. And the most valued agroecosystems have been agroforestry.peerReviewe

Sustainable Water Use in Agriculture: A Review of Worldwide Research

Sustainability of water use in agriculture is a line of research that has gained in importance worldwide. The present study reviewed 25 years of international research on sustainable water use in agriculture. A bibliometric analysis was developed to sample 2084 articles. Results indicate exponential growth in the number of articles published per year, with research in this field having acquired a global scale. Environmental Science and Agricultural and Biological Sciences are the main categories. Three journals—Agricultural Water Management, Water Resources Management and Nongye Gongcheng Xuebao Agricultural Engineering—published the most of the articles. China, the U.S., Australia, India and Germany produced the most research. The three institutions that published the most articles were all Chinese (Chinese Academy of Sciences, China Agricultural University and Northwest A&F University). The most cited authors were Ridoutt, Hoekstra and Zhang. The keywords most frequently used include: water-use, irrigation, water-management, water-supply, and sustainability. A network map shows three clusters that focus on the environmental, agronomic and management aspects. The findings of this study can assist researchers in this field by providing an overview of research on the sustainability of hydric resources