Greek forests are a valuable national treasure. Sustainable development of mountainous regions has as objective to increase the economic investments to profit of residents of regions, without however drastic influences on the natural environment. Respect for the natural environment and the goods it offers to us, enables its sustainable use. The ecosystems of the mountainous regions are sensitive to changes. Forest opening-up is one of the most important interventions in a forest ecosystem and is carried out by planning and constructing a transport network (forest roads, skidding tracks etc.), satisfying not only the need for skidding and transporting of forest products, but also forest protection and recreation activities. The fast development of P/C technology and GIS software provides an objective and effective evaluation of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). The aim of this paper is to investigate the compatibility of the forest opening-up operations with the environment using measurable intensity and absorption criteria with state-of-the-art techniques and equipment. The implementation of this method requires an accurate and easy to update geographical database. Spatial analysis and processing are performed in an efficient and reliable way. The creation of various digital maps and diagrams help in choosing the most compatible solution for the environment.
For each forest technical work, it is necessary to assess its compatibility with the environment. The concept of environmental compatibility is introduced based on the criteria of intensity of each impact on the environment and the capacity of the environment to absorb these impacts. Most of the Greek forests is crossed by C category forest roads, most of which, due to the needs of modern society and the multiple goals of forestry, need to be improved to make them more accessible to people and vehicles. In this context, the paper sets out the criteria and the parameters affecting a forest road and identifies the weight of each criterion of ecosystem intensity and absorption. The aim of this paper is to investigate and evaluate the environmental impacts of the construction of a C category forest road, of total length of 2,750 m, in the area “Stravoxylo - Palio Klima”, in Skopelos island, prefecture of Magnesia, Central Greece. In summary, the investigation concluded that this forest road was accepted without special conditions. Suggestions were made to improve it, make it better and more functional, so that larger fire trucks can easily pass, and to have better drainage system for the road.
In Mediterranean ecosystems the climate change causes the rising of the temperature and therefore the risk of forest fires is increased. A large proportion of the forests destroyed each year, could be saved with a forest fire detection system. Time is critical for saving people, animals, and the environment. Time is crucial and every minute matters in the event of a fire. A faster response means that many fires can be extinguished before they spread and cause more extensive damages. Thanks to technology development, improved systems of remote sensing for forest fires are created and implemented, reducing detection time, the estimated location of the fires break out. The key element in these systems is the performance in real time of the various moving features, such as vehicles, personnel, and even the fronts of the fires. The aim of the paper is the choice of appropriate early fire detection system for the first intervention and the determination of the required fire lookout stations and firefighting intervention units. International literature was investigated to find out the appropriate fire detection sensor. An analysis of observation was done by command ARCMAP (Viewshed). The observation from the height of the tower and the detection of smoke from a height of five meters, determined the observation rate of the area and the location of the sensor. In the research area are specified the positions of fire lookout stations with the help of DTM and GIS as well as the necessary vehicles and personnel for immediate first intervention.
KEYWORDS: Climatology, Climate change, Air temperature, Rain, Relative humidity, Wind speed, Temperature metrology, Linear regression, Environmental sensing, Biological research
The Mediterranean biogeographical region is considered particularly vulnerable to climate change. This is due to the sensitivity of natural and social systems to drought as well as the observed trend of rising temperatures that strongly affects several vital economic sectors such as tourism. The impact of climate change on tourist areas in Greece is expected to vary by region based on certain scenarios. The purpose of this research is to investigate the way in which various bioclimatic and socio-economic indicators are related to the tourist flow in the island of Lefkada. The analysis of the climatic data showed us that the climate of the island shows a stability in the period 2002-2019. Bioclimatic indices did not show a statistically significant correlation with the tourist flow except for the thermal comfort index (SSI, Summer Simmer Index) in contrast to the economic indicators. The SSI and the Human Development Index (HDI) showed the strongest correlation with the tourist flow. In addition, the HDI index appears to be contributing to the SSI but has a stronger linear relationship with tourism flow. The application of a multiple linear regression model using SSI and HDI shows that their changes can affect the flow of tourists by 15% and 20%, respectively.
The aim of this paper is the properly use of stone constructions into forest recreation areas near urban centers. Stone is a material that is born and evolves in nature as it is detached over time with stable, simple and almost primitive methods. Therefore, together with wood, it is undoubtedly the most suitable material for the formation of forest recreation areas, which are the most widespread means of human contact with nature and its beauties. The use of stone constructions in forest recreation is perfectly in harmony with the natural environment. Thus, people have the possibility to escape from the hectic rhythms of everyday life in forest recreation areas, relax and enjoy the forest through the conveniences offered by the stone constructions. To preserve and upgrade human psychology, certain principles (rules) related to its formation must be followed when constructing a recreation area. These principles are defined by the science of landscape architecture. After extensive research and with the help of modern technological programs and devices such as AutoCAD, GIS, GPS which are necessary for the production of maps, the existing situation of the recreation area in Nymphaea Komotini, Greece was assessed, important conclusions were drawn and of course a number of forest constructions were proposed, which if implemented, the favorite escape of the local residents will be accompanied by a beautiful landscape that will drastically contribute to their mental upliftment.
KEYWORDS: Mining, Unmanned aerial vehicles, Image processing, Photogrammetry, Forestry, Data processing, Data modeling, Global Positioning System, Data acquisition, Agriculture
Main subject of this paper is to investigate and evaluate methodologies for photogrammetric applications in geosciences, theoretically and practically, mainly focusing on systematic monitoring of surface mining areas. Its objective is to develop a technique adaptable to the particular characteristics of each application in order to efficiently meet the criteria of short time and low cost, but also of the required high frequency of application, as well as those of accuracy of the end products. Several methods for surface monitoring in mines have been developed. In particular, key aspects of the whole process to be studied in detail are, the following: a) Regarding data collection, UAVs with integrated RGB cameras will be used for data capture, b) Careful flight planning and geometric configuration of image acquisition, depending on the morphology of the object of interest and accuracy requirements will be under consideration, c) SfM applications and the bundle adjustment method with self-calibration will be used in order to process the collected data, d) GCPs (ground control points), check points and GPS/IMU information will be used for evaluating the results and e) Volume calculation differences between areas of interest will be practically evaluated. The main need for aerial mapping applications in mines environment besides accuracy standards, cost minimization and speed of work is of course public safety and prevent the loss of life.
Sustainable management of forest resources can only be achieved through a well-organized road network. Road upgrading is a major forest engineering task on an existing road to ensure it is capable of timber harvest or forest fire protection. The purpose of this operation is to bring a currently substandard road up to full standard. Forest road managers considering the technical, economic, and environmental factors that affect forest road not only when they plan forest roads but also when they are going to upgrade them. This paper describes the methodology of decision making when you have limited resources to upgrade the forest road network and you have to prioritize the forest roads that are going to be upgraded. In a Mediterranean island, the timber harvest is not a reason to upgrade a forest road but the fire protection and the growth of tourists that visits a forest ecosystem is. When technical and economic factors are identical the prioritization of forest road upgrade is based on the environmental factors and to the environmental impact assessment (EIA) of each forest road that needs an upgrade. With this work, we suggest that the forest road managers should consider upgrading the forest network based on environmental prioritization in areas with the same characteristics.
The term sustainable development indicates a policy for continued economic and social development without destroying the environment and natural resources, but instead ensures their rational viability. The Treaty on European Union is defined as “respecting the environment development”, i.e. one that “ensures the environmental viability”. Sustainable development of semi mountainous forest regions supports an increase in economic investments in order to profit the residents of region, without however having drastic negative influences on the natural environment. Green Infrastructure (GI) can be broadly defined as a strategically planned network of high quality natural and semi-natural areas with other environmental features, which is designed and managed to deliver a wide range of ecosystem services and protect biodiversity. The objective of this study is the specification of strategic directions for an integrated development of semi mountainous forest areas through global measures in relation to zoning policies and proposals regarding specialized production activities, according to a proper typology that characterizes the differentiation of regional problems, needs, and perspectives. The sustainable development of these areas of Greece targets regional and social cohesion in the framework of especial strategic targets. Any development plan addresses the specific development physiognomy of the region for which drawn. Particularly for vulnerable and sensitive semi mountainous forest areas, integrated development is not only necessary but also feasible. The integration capabilities of modern methods and techniques and GIS to establish the necessary infrastructure integrated measurement and qualitative information on such areas can be a very important tool for developing credible land.
Forest opening-up is one of the most important interventions in a forest ecosystem and is carried out by planning and constructing of a transport network (forest roads, skidding tracks, etc.), satisfying not only the need for skidding and transporting of forest products, but also forest protection and recreation activities. The primary concern of a forest engineer should be the compatibility of such infrastructural projects with the environment. For this reason, the assessment criteria for forest infrastructural works are used to examine and evaluate the impact on the natural environment of such projects, as well as to choose the best (compatible) environmental solution from various alternatives before undertaking the project. In the present effort describes the initial steps of a simple Decision Support System that could be applied for the assessment of the activity’s intensity and the forest ecosystem’s absorbing capacity using multicriteria analysis. The system embodies three multi-criteria analysis methods and can be used for a single-project analysis as well as for the evaluation of multiple/alternative opening-up projects. A combination of digital photogrammetry and GIS technology was used to evaluate the compatibility between the general forest infrastructural works and the natural environment. In order to evaluate the compatibility, practical criteria of the intensity of the human influence, as well as criteria of the environment resilience to such interventions were used (Multi-criteria evaluation analysis).
Islands are the most important tourist destinations in Greece because in addition to natural beauty they offer a rare combination of tourist products and services. In many cases, however, the natural environment is transformed as an unjustified receiver of pollutants produced by tourism activities, which could be possible, degraded the environment and disturb the ecological balance. This fact activated an original research effort to study whether the potential ecological and environmental distortions in the island were to be identified so that a tourism policy could be adapted to the island's natural environment. During the data collection, tourist accommodation was recorded in all Lefkada's municipalities by additional data collection of natural, cultural, human and artificial environment. The resulting data were further processed with software programs and showed that the geological specificity of Lefkada's island affects the spatial arrangement and distribution of local and seasonal tourist populations. As an impact of this, the potential zones of pressure in Lefkada are separated into coastal outer zone and two inner, semi-mountainous zones. The coastal zone receives the highest pressure and has the highest potential for pollution, mainly on the north and east sides of the island, due to the existence of ports and natural anchors and the explosive development of small and multi-purpose tourist accommodation within 2 Km of the coastline. Semi-mountainous areas that may be prone to land use problems have also been surveyed due to the growing tourism spatial activity. Higher altitudes show a continuing trend of improving alternative forms of tourism, but the potential for pollution is limited but this does not mean that the ecological balance cannot be disturbed.
Integrated sustainable development of mountainous regions has as objective to increase the economic investments to profit of residents of region, without however it influences drastic the natural environment. Green Infrastructure (GI) can be broadly defined as a strategically planned network of high quality natural and semi-natural areas with other environmental features, which is designed and managed to deliver a wide range of ecosystem services and protect biodiversity. More specifically GI, being a spatial structure providing benefits from nature to people, aims to enhance nature’s ability to deliver multiple valuable ecosystem goods and services in perpetuity, such as timber, clean air or water. Above all, GI offers us a smart, integrated way of managing and development the natural capital. Aim of the paper is to indicate manners of integrated sustainable development with direct priority the conservation of natural environment in conjunction with the sustainable rural development. As research area is chosen the public forest complex of Ano Rou Mornou of Fokida Prefecture a typical example of a multifunctional GI one that can combine forestry, farming, housing, as well as tourism and recreational activities in the same space whilst at the same time keeping our freshwater systems clean, our air healthy and our wildlife safe. Advantages of registration in the form of a spatial tool, especially when many types of information participate, are presented and give us a visual potential of how can forest operation and ecosystem services can be create a large multi-functional landscape.
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