Socio-economic description
Population density and structure
The Population density is 17.1 inhabitants per square kilometer. A high percentage of the population (31.9%) is >65 years old and women represent 57% of the population. The aging index is 172.6
Level of education
People that cannot read or write represent 20.7% of the population. 1.2% of the inhabitants hold a university /polytechnic degree, and most of the people have just a basic formation. Only 10.1% hold a secondary school degree.
Level and sources of income for the main stakeholder groups
With more than 30% of people >65 years old an important part of the income comes from social security, that also provides the "Social Reinsertion Grant" to the families with more difficulties. Forestry, beekeeping and grazing are the main resources explored in the region. Adventure tourism starts to have a role, together with some rural guest houses.
Major sources of livelihood
An important part of the income comes from the social security. Timber has decreased their importance due to the profusion of forest fires, and in recent years, grazing and bee keeping have started to become increasingly important.
Impacts of land degradation on the livelihood of people and groups most affected
The Municipality has lost almost half of their population since 1960, especially in the small mountain hamlets. This coincided with the increased occurrence of forest fires. The previous system (that was becoming degraded), based on a multiple activity including poor agriculture, forestry and grazing management practices, was replaced by forestry, and with less people to manage, forest fires started to become an important degradation factor, mainly due to their recurrence. This resulted in overall soil degradation that often ends in large areas covered by Cistus ladaniferus (L.) - ("esteva") that represent the ultimate degradation before complete soil erosion.
Major challenges for existing land resource management
The major challenges are to reduce forest fire occurrence, economy diversification and income increase to prevent the emigration of the inhabitants to the cities. Landscape diversification and more assertive forest management strategies and tools are also required.
Major drivers of main land degradation processes
Depopulation and consequent changes of landscape management, that resulted in the lack of control over the biomass accumulation. The change in management strategies and practices resulted also in the inexistence of breaks in the forest landscape.
