Europe is considered one of the most attractive and safe prevalent tourist destinations in the entire world. Approximately half (47.4%) of European tourist visits occurred in coastal regions, defined “on the basis of and consist of local administrative units or municipalities that border the sea, or have at least half of their total surface area within a distance of 10 km from the sea.” Destinations such as Malta, Greece, Cyprus, Spain and Croatia presented with an increased level of tourist accommodation establishments, as well as, the overall flow of tourism in the European Union is mostly concentrated on Mediterranean coastal regions (as nine out 10 tourists, in 2015, spent their holidays at coastal areas). This paper, is dealing with the assessment of a tourist area and how the concept of urban metabolism has been affected by touristic activities. Moreover, this research using several key performance indicators such as waste compositional analysis, the clean coast index, the accumulation rate, and accumulation index, etc., tries to measure the level of environmental performance, and furthermore, to assess the existing infrastructures and the waste management plan, that are being implemented. The results are very useful, for any policy-maker, as well as competent authorities and/or tourist organizations which are dealing with tourist activities and aim to propose or re-schedule any waste strategy targeting the goals of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, European Green Deal, and the new circular economy strategy.
Urbanization trends and environmental concerns are interconnected due to the increased demand of natural resources, waste production and greenhouse gas emissions. One of the most important anthropogenic factors affecting ecosystems and sustainability is the rapid growth of cities in both size and complexity. According to United Nations as at mid-2017, the global population was an estimated 7.6 billion people, and it is expected to reach 9.8 billion (2050). As the world urbanizes, the role of cities in defining sustainability outcomes increases in importance. Even though cities expansion contributes to economic prosperity and social growth, at the same time, it poses severe challenges both to the environment and social system. The changing from “unsustainable cities” to “sustainable, green and smart cities”, has become a major topic in research community and policy making for endorsing urban sustainability. As a result, the United Nation Sustainable Development Goals were developed as an ambitious blueprint for achieving peace and prosperity while also protecting the environment. Especially SDG 11 is dealing with making cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. Moreover, Circular Economy is receiving increasing attention globally as a way to overcome the current production and consumption model based on continuous growth and increasing resources input, with aim to increase the efficiency of resource use in order to achieve balance and harmony between economy, environment and society. The objective of this paper was to identified the major challenges occurred due to the rapid urbanization in a coastal area giving emphasis to Particulate Matters Emissions PM2.5, and how the use of the PM2.5 emission index could be used as an indicator for determining the urban metabolism of an island area taking into account that the increase in the concentration of PM in an area is directly related to the increase of anthropogenic activities resulting from population growth and consequently the increase in flows of materials and services and at the same time the increase in the production of solid and liquid waste and gaseous emissions. The higher the index, the greater the degree of metabolism of an area and the impact on air quality.
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