Arnaiz-Schmitz, CeciliaHerrero-Jáuregui, CristinaSchmitz García, María Fe2023-06-172023-06-172021-03-30Arnaiz-Schmitz, C.; Herrero-Jáuregui, C.; Schmitz, M.F. Recreational and Nature-Based Tourism as a Cultural Ecosystem Service. Assessment and Mapping in a Rural-Urban Gradient of Central Spain. Land 2021, 10, 343. https:// doi.org/10.3390/land100403432073-445X10.3390/land10040343https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/8179This research was funded by the project LABPA-CM: Contemporary Criteria, Methods and Techniques for Landscape Knowledge and Conservation (H2019/HUM-5692), funded by the European Social Fund and the Madrid Regional Government. The authors thank the Ministry of Science and Innovation and to the State Research Agency, the postdoctoral support provided through the Juan de la Cierva training program (FECI2019-040562-I/AEI/10.13039/50110001103)Land management focused from the social-ecological perspective of ecosystem services should consider cultural services in decision-making processes. Nature-based tourism offers a great potential for landscape conservation, local development and the well-being of human populations. However, the subjectivity of recreational ecosystem services has meant a clear impediment to assessing and mapping them. In this study, an integrated numerical spatial method is developed, which quantifies the supply and demand of recreational ecosystem services and allows mapping their spatial correspondence along a rural-urban gradient. The procedure also allows quantifying the influence of the landscape structure and the presence of protected areas on the degree of coupling between supply of recreational ecosystem services and demand for outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism and reveals that protected areas are hotspots of recreational ecosystem services. The results obtained highlight the usefulness of the methodological procedure developed as a tool for sustainable land planning and management from an integrative social-ecological approach.engAtribución 3.0 Españahttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/journal articlehttps://doi.org/10.3390/land10040343https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/10/4/343open access574(460)social-ecological systemsrecreational ecosystem service hotspotssustainable land planning and managementlandscape structureprotected area effectivenesssupply-demand couplingnature-based touristsparticipatory planning procedureslocal population well-beingEcología (Biología)2401.06 Ecología animal