Abstract
The purpose of this study is to analyse and assess the potential of selected Bulgarian mountains on the basis of the concepts of natural capital and landscape multifunctionality. These concepts are essential in modern geo-spatial research in the context of the debate on sustainability and its role in avoiding problems of environmental degradation, land use conflicts and natural resources overuse. The Central Balkan and the Western Rhodopes are selected as case studies representative for mountains in Bulgaria. The authors interpret natural capital as a set of potentially possible landscape functions and, thus, study them within the geosystem boundaries of the landscape. The investigation is based on a systemic analysis of the landscape structure and its anthropogenic transformation by integrating the hemeroby index. On this basis, it performs qualitative valuation of ecosystem/landscape services in the mountain areas. Integration of the opinions and perspectives of the local population is an important aspect of the valuation.
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Notes
- 1.
Bulgaria’s 39th People’s Assembly ratified the European Landscape Convention on October 13, 2004. The Convention entered into force on March 1, 2005.
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Borisova, B., Assenov, A., Dimitrov, P. (2015). The Natural Capital of Selected Mountain Areas in Bulgaria. In: Luc, M., Somorowska, U., Szmańda, J. (eds) Landscape Analysis and Planning. Springer Geography. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-13527-4_6
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