Environmental Impacts of Depopulation: The Case of Aragon, Spain

3. Colegio del Salvador, Jesuitas, Spain

Abstract: This investigation is part of the research done by a group of Secondary and High school teachers in Zaragoza, Spain. It deals with the use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to achieve skill learning. We are working on depopulation. Consequences of this depopulation process are quite evident in Aragon. The depopulation process is the result of a resource reallocation; the redistribution of human resources, done by the market. Reallocation implies important environmental problems: depopulated places were inhabited and modified by human for centuries until they became “anthromes”: biomes whose survival essentially relies on human activity. The human activity disappearance may have led to environmental collapse, due to the inability of natural elements to rebuild themselves and to the risks linked to unpredictable evolution in them. This paper is orientated to the achievement of environmental citizenship and improves educational strategies to “sustainability”, managing didactical strategies, the use of GIS and the implementation of new pedagogical ways of active working. These resources can be found at https://arcg.is/lvufeK and belong to a wide website about depopulation http://bit.ly/Despo_HU.