Dimitra Vagiona

The role of the water footprint in the context of green marketing

The environmental degradation, because of various factors, such as climate change, human activities, increase of population globally, etc. have brought on pressures on the fresh water supplies that vary on time and space. Consequently, economic, environmental, and social tools have emerged known as footprints, in an effort to examine and measure the needs and consequences of humanity on the Earth’s life support systems and take measures towards sustainable development. Furthermore, the constantly worsening environmental conditions have resulted in the cultivation of a green culture among society stakeholders that brought on terms such as green marketing and green products. This paper deals with the water footprint (WF) concept and an effort is performed, to explore through a literature review, in which ways it can contribute to the sustainable development of water use, in the context of green marketing (GM) strategies. The approach of the analysis is based on the discrimination to the following aspects: international scale, national and subnational scale, farmers, business, and consumers, in order to track the affection of each part in water issues. The main findings of the literature review showed that the aforementioned factors are playing a key role in protecting water recourses, by the way they formulate their water use and they are interrelated and interdependent. WFs can be useful in the context of GM, by providing helpful information about direct and indirect water consumption, to every contributor factor in supply chains, to consumers, governments, and water managers.

Environmental performance value of projects: An environmental impact assessment tool

The aim of this research is to provide a common methodology for setting environmental performance (EP) values in various projects/activities and involve public in the decision-making process. To hierarchically evaluate the contribution of every environmental component to the environment of the study area, the assessor evaluates the existing as well as the potential situation of the environment by providing different weights to a set of environmental components. Various features of project’s impact on each environmental component are assessed both in the construction and the operational phase. A final environmental evaluation grade for every project evokes for every assessor by the use of a series of simple formulae. To illustrate the use of the proposed tool, the results of its application to 14 cases are presented. The proposed tool uses common criteria and scales to all environmental impact assessment judgments, integrates public participation in the process and concludes, through a uniform methodology, with EP values that should lead either to the acceptance or rejection of a project execution.

Demand management aspects of urban water policy in the industrial sector: the case of the city of Thessaloniki, Greece

The present paper presents the main results of a research project. It deals with consumers perception of water issues in the industrial sector, and examines and analyses water use patterns, water conservation methods and water pricing issues. Issues presented are the contribution of water to production processes, water consumption levels, water conservation options, the possibility of construction of a dual water supply system, the evaluation of different pricing policies, the willingness to pay (WTP) and the potential impact of a price increase. The study has shown that there is limited use of recycling methods, few pollution control practices and small effect of industrial water price on water consumption levels. As far as industrial consumers are concerned, they present inaccurate perception of water consumption levels and low willingness to pay for the improvement of water services.

Use of multicriteria analysis and GIS for selecting sites for onshore wind farms: the case of Andros Island (Greece)

Since wind power is one of the most promising sources of Renewable Energy (RES), the number of wind farms installed around the worldis constantly increasing. The aim of this paper is to develop a mechanism for determining and evaluating the suitability of areas for sitingwind farms, using a combination of Multi-criteria Data Analysis and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). This study was carried out onthe island of Andros, Greece. The process involved a four-step gradual exclusion of unsuitable areas for siting wind farms and an evaluationof compatible areas using criteria both from this country’s institutional framework and international literature. During the evaluation ofavailable areas, using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), pairwise comparison is used in which the weightings were determined bya group of experts. Despite the very favourable wind conditions on Andros, only a small percentage of its total area was given a high scorefor siting wind farms, due to the strict constraints imposed. The proposed methodology for the optimum siting of wind parks can be used inany study area and at any planning scale (local, regional, national level).

An innovative Strategic Spatial Planning Model: The Municipal Unity of Thermi (Thessaloniki-Greece) case study

Abstract Strategy is distinguished as a widely discussed issue inside the scientific world. Strategic Planning constitutes an appropriate and systematic method of strategy formulation and implementation. Characteristic models of Strategic Planning are initially presented in this paper in order to analyze the characteristics and differentiations in different levels. This paper presents an unconventional Strategic Spatial Planning model in the Municipal Unity of Thermi (Thessaloniki) for the strategic arrangement of the emerging development spatial issues. The main aim of the proposed model is the identification and formulation of Specific Actions Programs which are prioritized through a composite application of integrated multicriteria decision-making methods.

Measuring the sustainability of tourism development in protected areas: an indicator-based approach

The monitoring of an appropriate indicator set may provide useful directions and guidelines in order to assure a harmonious co-existence of tourism activities and ecological processes in protected areas. However, when developing a synthetic indicator there is always a balance to be struck between ease/cost of measurement and policy significance. The present paper attempts to simplify the measurement of tourism sustainability by proposing a two-step approach for developing a set of sustainable indicators under data limitations and financial constraints. An initial set of indicators is created through literature review and implementation of good practices in the selection process. The final set of indicators is specified based on stakeholders involvement and multi-criteria analysis. The empirical application of this method was actually focused on tourism sustainability in the national park of Lake Kerkini (Serres, Greece). Nevertheless, the proposed approach can also be effectively applied in any protected area, park or nature reserve.