Aportacions de l’índex de connectivitat ecològica a la planificació territorial i a l’avaluació ambiental estratègica, en el context de les recerques i les polítiques de connectivitat ecològica a Catalunya

This paper presents in short the index of ecological connectivity (IEC), a parametric methodology to analyze and evaluate the ecological connectivity of terrestrial ecosystems. This is done in the context of the development of researches and policies of ecological connectivity in Catalonia, a Spanish Autonomy with full powers in land planning, environmental evaluation and nature conservation. The IEC has been developed by the authors in three consecutive versions during the last six years. The discussion includes the motivation of the IEC, its potentialities, and its present and foreseeable applications, mainly in land planning and strategic environmental assessment. Finally there is a discussion about the potential uses of the IEC in the frame of the directives for ecological connectivity of Catalonia of 2006.