ABSTRACT

A model was developed for the classification and assessment of droving routes of high ecological value, based on the use of scalar methods and the definition of value functions. The model provides a new planning tool for use in decision-making and the sustainable management of these corridor zones. This is the first such model to involve an assessment process requiring (a) the definition of the possible uses of droving routes, (b) their division into sections, (c) the definition and use of assessment indicators, (d) the evaluation of sections with respect to their uses and (e) assessments with regard to each individual use, plus an overall use assessment. The model was validated in a rural area of Spain, a country whose droving routes make up a dense network some 125,000 km in length and which occupy some 442,000 ha. The study area was in the southwest of the Province of Madrid, which has 14 droving routes all catalogued as being of historic-cultural interest. The results showed the advantages of using scalar methods for the assessment of this type of corridor, bearing in mind that, while they act as linear communication networks, these corridors also occupy large areas of land that could be used for different activities. The main novelty of the multicriteria method used in the model lies in the use of indicators and value functions.