Sustainable development is, in essence, a rational approach to the management of natural resources. Greece is a relatively small European country with an important landscape and seascape diversity. A large part of its area is mountainous, 35% is covered by agricultural land, 60% is covered by forests and/or shrub vegetation. Sea surrounds the country and the length of the coastline reaches 18,000 km. There are thousands of islands, 140 of which are inhabited. The land's geological structure is relatively young; the great geomorphological fragmentation, the uneven distribution of the spatial mean rainfall and the generally small catchment areas form a diverse landscape dominated by small valleys (a phenomenon very characteristic in Crete). The number of natural sites having significant aesthetic value reaches several thousands and includes sea coasts, rocky islands, wetlands, forests, alpine zones, rivers, lakes, ravines, springs, caves etc. Valuable characteristics are being represented by different landscape types. Traditional human activities have been developed since thousands of years. In the Aegean Archipelago, natural and cultural factors created a great biological, landscape and seascape diversity. Natural and cultural features, often interconnected, are found in a high number of environmentally important sites, most of them small in scale and vulnerable. Consequently, most modern human activities are bound to negatively influence landscape quality. Rapid economic development in recent decades has generated pressures, which have led to many sites being degraded. Ecological values as well as development and social processes involve complex parameters that cannot be easily foreseen. Negative impacts of new activities can generally be minimized depending on the choice of appropriate alternative solutions and protection measures. Impacts on landscape quality mainly depend on the following environmental parameters: landscape scenery, biodiversity, soil, water, the acoustic environment, agricultural activity, the cultural environment. The choices of appropriate restoration measures must fulfill various criteria (in some cases partially contradictory). They need to be: economically feasible, appropriate for impact elimination, technically correct and applicable based on available means and experience, aesthetically acceptable, easily maintained, without serious side effects.
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