The expansion of the built environment, waste generation and EU recycling targets on Samothraki, Greece: An island’s dilemma

Samothraki in Transition: A Report on a Real-World Lab to Promote the Sustainability of a Greek Island

“…We do not quantify these stocks, as by NPP for example, like in [32], but describe them qualitatively as landcover and forest. We build our analysis on data published by members of our team on the quantification of stocks of the core socioeconomic sectors (as livestock [33] and built infrastructures [34]), the natural resources required by these stocks for their reproduction/maintenance, and the impacts of this resource use on natural stocks. For the built infrastructure, we also discuss the (pending) issue of future waste flows, i.e., backflows from society to the ecosystems.…”

“…Fortunately, authorities were wise enough to protect the scenic central town of the island, Chora, and largely preserve its traditional style of architecture up to now (www.sites.google.com/view/samothraki/history, accessed on December 2019). In the decades following, tourism and income development did not take off as steeply as had been expected and the Greek debt crisis after 2008 brought local construction activities more or less to a standstill [34]. While stocks-in-use had doubled, essential infrastructural functions are still not taken care of: Settlements are served by septic tanks, and only two (Chora and Lakoma with 653 and 317 inhabitants, respectively) partly afford sewage systems that discharge untreated water to adjacent streams, thus threatening their ecological integrity.…”

“…Over the last four decades, the demand for additional floor space for the growing tertiary sector, tourist establishments, supermarkets, storehouses, and other small businesses has led to a shift of the economic center of the island, Chora, to the port city of Kamariotissa. Since the 1960s, Kamariotissa underwent a threefold population increase (from 277 in 1961 to 940 inhabitants in 2001), while most of the other settlements on the island declined; e.g., the population of Chora, the island's capital, dropped from 1555 to 698 during the same period [34].…”

“…This also applies to the roads. Due to the island's steep terrain and erosion processes, asphalt roads wear down very quickly, while bridges and exposed stretches are regularly washed away by severe weather events and often require fortification by concrete walls [34]. The need to ship the necessary materials to the island (and wastes off the island) generates additional costs, not viable for the local municipality.…”

Residents’ Views on Landscape and Ecosystem Services during a Wind Farm Proposal in an Island Protected Area

“…Concerning other anthropogenic problems, several noticeable environmental degradation issues were infrequently mentioned (e.g., waste management, suburban sprawl, holiday home building, architectural changes, road-building, wildlife poaching and wetland degradation). There is plenty of documentation that these are all serious anthropogenic pressures on Samothraki [54,96,97], as they are in many inhabited Greek islands [98,99]. Mention of the flora and fauna was also unusually scarce in questionnaire responses, despite the island's status as a Natura 2000 area and a biodiversity endemism hotspot.…”