Recognizing how ecosystem services of Mahuida Park (Santiago de Chile) benefit citizen: a strategy to link the protection of natural areas to urban settings

Abstract

Chilean Mediterranean ecosystems represent a hotspot of biodiversity; however, its biological importance has not been an enough argument to protect them. In this study, by using Mahuida Park as a model, we proposed a different approach based on the identification and maximization of ecosystem service to promote the conservation these well conserved ecosystems. We argued that its native vegetation structure in combination with other topography attributes can provide regulating ecosystem services to urban areas around it. This approach may be used as an argument to protect the Mediterranean vegetation within the park, and at the same time, increasing the economic resources given by local government. The approach is based on the inhabitants’ daily well-being who live close to natural areas. We expect that this proposal be useful to incorporate this functional aspect in planning, management and decision-making related to urban and periurban parks.

Keywords: ecosystem services, landscape, periurban public parks, urban ecology