Forest fires are a natural phenomenon which might have severe implications on natural and anthropogenic ecosystems. Future projections predict that, under a climate change environment, the fire season would be lengthier with higher levels of droughts, leading to higher fire severity. The main aim of this paper is to perform a spatiotemporal analysis and explore the variability of fire hazard in a small Greek island, Skiathos (a prototype case of fragile environment) where the land uses mixture is very high.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe sustainable forest management can be achieved only through environmentally sound and economically efficient and feasible forest road networks and transportation systems that can potentially improve the multi-functional use of forest resources. However, road network planning and construction suggest long-term finance that require a capital investment (cash outflow), which would be equal to the value of the total revenue flow (cash inflow) over the whole lifecycle project. This paper emphasizes in an eco-efficient and economical optimum evaluation method for the forest road networks in the mountainous forest of Metsovo, Greece.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe sustainable management of forest resources can only be achieved through a well-organized road network designed with the optimal spatial planning and the minimum environmental impacts. This paper describes the spatial layout mapping for the optimal forest road network and the environmental impacts evaluation that are caused to the natural environment based on the multicriteria evaluation (MCE) technique at the Mediterranean island of Thassos in Greece. Data analysis and its presentation are achieved through a spatial decision support system using the MCE method with the contribution of geographic information systems (GIS).
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