Ecological footprint as a tool for integrated coastal zone management

Abstract

The Ecological Footprint (EF) is a widely accepted tool for translating all human activities so as to assess their environmental impact and has been often used as an indicator for environmental sustainability, over the last few years, providing information on the impacts of human activities on environmentally valuable ecosystems. On the other hand, Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) sets the basic principles and methodologies for the sustainable development and management of coastal areas. ICZM is a dynamic, continuous and iterative process designed to promote sustainable management of coastal zones. The continuous human activities development without an effort of a minimization of their EF could jeopardize the future sustainability of the coast. Therefore, in this article, it is attempted to find the gaps in coastal management which the EF could fill in by acting as a planning and management tool. More specifically, this paper examines whether EF could be used in the case of a major transport infrastructure project situated in coastal areas.