| Abstract: |
Worldwide, protected areas represent one of the main attractions for national and international visitors (Bushell, 2003). Since the end of the 20th century, tourism growth has created different pressures on natural spaces, mainly caused by changes in land use (Boavida-Portugal, Rocha, & Ferreira, 2016). The modification of an ecosystem through anthropogenic effects is known as anthropization (Martínez, 2010). One of the factors that enhances this problem is the attraction of the coastal territories for the sun and beach tourism (García-Ayllón, 2018). Through the increase in urbanized areas, greater traffic flow, consumption of natural resources, increased pollution, and pressure on natural spaces, beach and coastal tourism pose severe threats to the ecosystem (Kim, Lee, & Kim, 2019). Despite this well-known direct impact of tourism on the environment, when it is not clear what is driving the forces (pressures) or the interconnections between factors, anthropization is categorized as diffuse and is generally examined from a global or general perspective (Rova, Pranovi, & Müller, 2015). In Costa Rica, the creation of Manuel Antonio National Park in 1972, combined with access facilities and the expansion of tourism investment in the buffer zone, has made this region one of the most visited in the country (Broadbent et al. , 2012). In the case of famous tourist destinations, the literature coincides that excess visitation impact the environmental and social level (Burbano, Valdivieso, Izurieta, Meredith, & Ferri, 2022). There is a paradox because the national park was created to protect nature, but at the same time, it became a popular tourist attraction, which stimulated an unplanned tourism growth in the buffer zone, generating impacts through the negative land cover change on the biophysical environment (Koens, Dieperink, & Miranda, 2009). There is a research gap in examining the influence of popular protected areas on the anthropization of the surrounding landscape. This study aims to determine the changes in the landscape in the buffer zone of Manuel Antonio National Park through an anthropization index. The results are analyzed by considering visitors statistics to the protected area, location of the tourist infrastructure, and literature review. |
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(Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
