Current global socio-economic trends call attention to the endangered conditions of relatively confined environments all over the world. Many of these regions face problems of depopulation and lack of adequate infrastructures. The problems are aggravated for the case of islands, which have limited resources and few possibilities of developing different types of supporting infrastructures. Many islands depend on tourism for their economic survival. Most of them however, cannot provide all the resources required to maintain a large seasonal population and in many cases basic requirements such as water and energy, as well as agricultural produce, need to be imported.
The impact of large seasonal population increases in the community and the resulting socio-economic factors need to be carefully evaluated, as well as issues related to transportation and communication, all of which should be part of an overall strategy. Of primary importance in many cases is to ensure all year round economic activities in order to achieve a permanent and completely sustainable use of the islands' potential.
Island Sustainability I contains papers dealing with projects, initiatives and experiences related to different island issues. By using the experience of economically developed island environments, it is possible to learn how to ensure the development of other island communities, not only to prevent depopulation but to encourage new settlement. Those projects will serve as guidelines for other initiatives in less developed islands, adapting those experiences to specific regional, cultural and socio-economic characteristics.
Section 1: Tourism impact and strategies
- Possibilities and limitations in the development of selective forms of tourism in the Croatian archipelago: case study of the Istrian islands
- Selection, design and dissemination of Fuerteventura's projected tourism image (Canary Isles)
- How far does tourism stress coral reef environment in island states: case studies of Indian Ocean and Caribbean islands
- Tourism valorisation of lighthouses on Croatian islands and along the coast
Section 2: Community issues
- Scales and scenarios of change in the anthropology-landscape relationship: models of cultural tourism in Fuerteventura (Canary Isles)
- Development of sustainability indices for the wider area of Troodos in Cyprus
- The attitudes of the island local community towards sustainable tourism development - the case of Stari Grad, island Hvar
- The socio-cultural impacts of visiting friends and relatives on hosts: a Samoan study
- Traditional medicinal knowledge in Cuba
Section 3: Changing climate and environment
- Is it really happening here? A study of climate change perception in the Azores
- Future sea level rise implications on development of Lazarus Island, Singapore Southern Islands
- Rising sea level and long term sustainability of near-shore islands of the United Arab Emirates: an approach to establishing setback lines for Abu Dhabi
- Coastal erosion in the archaeological area of Selinunte
- Coastal monitoring with high resolution synthetic aperture radar
- 3-D process modelling of ancient storm-dominated deposits by an event-based approach
Section 4: Infrastructures
- Infrastructure maintenance and disaster prevention measures on isolated Islands: the case of the Izu Islands near Tokyo
- Responsive demand in isolated energy systems
- Innovative shore protection for island communities
- Designing of protective seaside wall composite elements for protection of roads along the seashore
- Application of composite materials for the protection of sea shores and engineering structures against the impact of waves
- A new approach to estimate armourstone abrasion: modified slake durability test
Section 5: Transport issues
- Travelling towards and from minor islands through non-conventional air transport: demand and cost analysis
- Development of nautical tourism: islands development motivator
- Fast charging stations for electric vehicles infrastructure