Mapping multiple-stressors of rural areas in Spain : identifying new geographical spots of vulnerability attention

Rural Spain has undergone several changes in recent decades. The deagrarization of rural societies and agricultural intensification has spread throughout the territory and, with it, the abandonment of unproductive and mountainous lands, with the consequent socioenvironmental impacts. This phenomenon has been coupled with a historical depopulation process continues to affect rural villages, especially in remote rural areas. Furthermore, Spain is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change impacts, particularly in the agriculture sector. This study proposes an interpretation of rural vulnerability based on multiple-stressors framework accounting for climate change, depopulation and international trade. A spatial analysis is presented through a methodology based on Hot-spot analysis where the rural areas most exposed to the aforementioned stresses are identified, differentiating between remote rural and accessible rural contexts. This triple-exposure approach at the country level allows new vulnerable rural areas to emerge that until now could have been invisible by the single-stressor analysis. The resulting maps may have implications when designing and applying future rural policies that act on areas that experience interactions between various stresses