A Holistic One Health Assessment Framework for Coastal Areas

Alexandra Ioannou, Evmorfia Bataka, Nikolaos Kokosis, Dimitris Kofinas, Charalambos Billinis and Chrysi Laspidou ()
Additional contact information
Alexandra Ioannou: Civil Engineering Department, University of Thessaly, 383 34 Volos, Greece
Evmorfia Bataka: Civil Engineering Department, University of Thessaly, 383 34 Volos, Greece
Nikolaos Kokosis: Civil Engineering Department, University of Thessaly, 383 34 Volos, Greece
Dimitris Kofinas: Civil Engineering Department, University of Thessaly, 383 34 Volos, Greece
Charalambos Billinis: Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Thessaly, 431 00 Karditsa, Greece
Chrysi Laspidou: Civil Engineering Department, University of Thessaly, 383 34 Volos, Greece

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 21, 1-22

Abstract: Coastal ecosystems face intertwined challenges from environmental degradation, zoonotic spillover, and socio-economic pressures, which demand integrated assessment approaches. This paper proposes a tailored conceptual and methodological framework for evaluating One Health (OH) in coastal environments. The proposed framework extends the Drivers–Pressures–State–Impact–Response model by embedding human health, animal health, and environmental ecosystem quality into a unified structure. Within this approach, three composite indicators are introduced—the Human Health and Socio-economic Well-being Index, the Animal Health Risk Index, and the Environmental Ecosystem Quality Index. Based on an extensive literature review, we propose the variables and indicators that will theoretically underpin the construction of these indicators. While their empirical development and application will follow in a subsequent stage, the present work establishes their conceptual foundation and provides the full set of indicators to be integrated. In doing so, the framework lays the groundwork for future operationalization of OH assessments in coastal areas, supporting vulnerability evaluation, sustainable governance, and alignment with European directives and the UN SDGs.

Keywords: One Health; coastal management; ecosystem health; human health; animal health; integrated indicators; resilience; assessment framework (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/21/9359/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/21/9359/ (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:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:21:p:9359-:d:1776627

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

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