Development of sustainability indices for the wider area of Troodos in Cyprus

Abstract

The concept of sustainability gathers together the various elements contributing to a human life support system on Earth and follows the seminal approach established by the Brundtl and report on sustainable development. Traditionally, sustainability is associated with criteria such as efficiency or equity from an economic, social and environmental viewpoint and deals with intra-generational and intergenerational issues. Indicators are considered of crucial importance for the measurement of "sustainability" in local contexts as well as for national and international policies, as they allow communicating, discussing and taking decisions on complex facts and trends, using relatively few data. The paper describes the development of sustainable indices for the wider area of Troodos in Cyprus which include 100 villages (that belong to two districts: Nicosia and Limassol), according to five criteria, which are considered as essential components of sustainable indices for the Troodos' Mountains management. These criteria are: (i) society, (ii) cultural, (iii) economical and tourist (iv) geologic and hydrology (v) natural environment. The questionnaire's main targets are to investigate the five criteria in relation with the data present in Table 1 and in case anyone chooses to stay permanent in any community of the Troodos' region. © 2010 WIT Press.