Socio-economics of nature protection policies in the perspective of the implementation of Natura 2000 Network: the Spanish case

Spain's experience in nature protection is analysed from the perspective of the implementation of a new EU-wide nature protection network: Natura 2000 . Natura 2000 aims at a harmonized nature protection policy at the European level. It opens the opportunity for a review of the existing protection po licies. Due to its wide range of climates, Spain will be the leading countr y in the Natura 2000 protected area. Following the holistic approach of sus tainability - environmental, economic and social - as defined in UNCED (Rio de Janeiro (1992), Helsinki (1993) and Lisbon (1998)) special attention is given to the distribution of the costs and benefits of the protected-areas policy. Several socio-economic proposals for an improved protected-areas p olicy are developed.