Tourism and biodiversity along the Euro-Mediterranean coast: prospects for overcoming a deeply rooted conflict

In Euro-Mediterranean coastal areas, particularly along the coastal zones of Spain, France and Italy, high biodiversity values - derived not only from natural, but also from human factors, such as grazing and agricultural activities - are coupled with traditionally intense tourist flows, related to mass seaside tourism. Since the 1950s, this type of tourism, and two major socio-economic processes associated with it—‘litoralization’ and abandonment of grazing and agricultural activities in inland areas—has been causing significant losses of biodiversity, along the coast and in the hinterland. Considering this critical situation, this paper investigates how tourism and some of its “threats” can be turned into an opportunity for reaching the Aichi Biodiversity Targets (Target 5, in particular) within the context of Euro- Mediterranean coastal areas. To this aim, some examples of policies developed within three coastal protected areas (‘Protected Landscapes’, IUCN Category V: the Parque Natural de la Albufera de Valencia, Spain, the Parc Naturel Régional de la Narbonnaise en Méditerranée, France, and the Parco Naturale Regionale del Conero, Italy) for overcoming the tourism-biodiversity conflicts are analysed. These parks can be regarded as experimental laboratories for policies relating to unprotected coastal areas as well