Preliminary communication
https://doi.org/10.21861/HGG.2015.77.02.04
A regular annual sea transport carbon footprint for the islands of Cres and Lošinj
Hrvoje Grofelnik
orcid.org/0000-0002-2796-8316
; Gimnazija Andrije Mohorovičića Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia
Abstract
The article presents the determination of the local carbon (ecological) footprint of regular annual sea transport for the islands of Cres and Lošinj. In the form of a case study, the article isolates the local environmental load of CO2 emission into the atmosphere as the result of the ferry, and high speed catamaran and ship transport output. Footprints generated by the resident population and tourism’s regular sea transport are isolated out as parts of the environmental load. The hypothesis that this article is based upon states that the sea transport’s carbon footprint is dominantly under the impact of tourism and shows annual oscillations closely related to the tourism activity on the islands. The article’s contribution on the theoretical level is the actualization of isolating partial tourist footprints. On the applicative level, the article’s contribution is in the footprint calculations as a basis for the development of the islands and the surrounding areas’ sustainable development strategies and plans. The end results of this work are showing that the regular sea transport partial environmental load of 2.3% of local sea biocapacity can be described as rather small and that tourism’s share in this load makes up 36.5%. The contributions of article results are indicative for the process of revitalization and sustainable development of the islands of Cres and Lošinj as exceptionally preserved and valuable areas.
Keywords
carbon footprint; ecological footprint; sea transport; tourism; Island of Cres; Island of Lošinj
Hrčak ID:
152509
URI
Publication date:
8.2.2016.
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