Management Implications at a Protected, Peri-Urban, Salt Lake Ecosystem: The Case of Larnaca’s Salt Lakes (Cyprus)

Eleni S. Bekri, Ioannis P. Kokkoris, Charalambos S. Christodoulou, Antonia Sophocleous-Lemonari and Panayotis Dimopoulos ()
Additional contact information
Eleni S. Bekri: Environmental Engineering Laboratory, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Patras, 26504 Patras, Greece
Ioannis P. Kokkoris: Laboratory of Botany, Department of Biology, University of Patras, 26504 Patras, Greece
Charalambos S. Christodoulou: Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment, Amfipoleos 6, P.O. Box 22016, Nicosia CY-2025, Cyprus
Antonia Sophocleous-Lemonari: Architecture Research Center (ARC), University of Nicosia, 31 Michael Giorgalla, P.O. Box 24005, Nicosia CY-1700, Cyprus
Panayotis Dimopoulos: Laboratory of Botany, Department of Biology, University of Patras, 26504 Patras, Greece

Land, 2023, vol. 12, issue 9, 1-18

Abstract: Larnaca’s salt lakes constitute one of the most important protected areas in Cyprus and in the southeast Mediterranean . It is in continuity with the urban area of Larnaca city, being the major green infrastructure in the area, supporting (among others) biodiversity, recreation, culture, and food production. The present study aims to provide an overview of the area’s ecosystem types and their potential to provide ecosystem services, focusing on assessing the water ecosystem condition and drafting the relevant baseline accounts. The results of the study include an ecosystem type map of the area, followed by potential supply maps of ecosystem services, for the three major categories (i.e., provisioning, regulating and maintenance, and cultural) and the estimation and assessment of ecosystem condition variables for wetlands, as proposed by the EU-wide methodology to map and assess the ecosystem condition, in line with the System of Environmental Economic Accounting—Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA EA). A critical exceedance (over 10%) of the imperviousness and the increase in the soil moisture deficit within the wider salt lakes area have been identified and can constitute useful variables associated with the anthropogenic, climatic, and other effects on the condition of the salt lakes. Discussion for integrating this information to existing knowledge is provided toward supporting scientifically informed decision and policymaking for the sustainable development of protected areas.

Keywords: green infrastructure; ecosystem services; Natura 2000; MAES; natural capital; spatial planning; water resources management; wetland ecosystem condition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/12/9/1781/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/12/9/1781/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:12:y:2023:i:9:p:1781-:d:1239553

Access Statistics for this article

Land is currently edited by Ms. Carol Ma

More articles in Land from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().