The forest roads? spatial planning contribution to the sustainable development of small islands. The case study of Thassos island, Greece

Small islands due to their small size face environmental risks, because of the pressures arising from the projects and actions aiming at economic development. Forests constitute vulnerable ecosystems that change at great speed. In most of the occasions the change is downgrading. The right management of the natural resources is the unique solution for the achievement of sustainable development. However, sustainable management of forests must be achieved with the respect and protection of nature and landscape. Sustainable management of forest resources can only be achieved through a well-organized road network, designed with the optimal spatial variability and the minimum environmental impacts. In this paper, we focus on the intensity criteria evaluation and more specifically on the forest road density, the road spacing and the forest opening-up percentage evaluation. From the road density and the forest protection percentage evaluation, we can deduce that in the study area there have been opened a lot of forest roads. Nevertheless, with the integration of the intensity and the absorption multi-criteria evaluation we can deduce whether the existing forest roads in the study area have been designed with the optimal spatial planning. Consequently, with the application of the optimal spatial planning technique we will ensure the best protection and at the same time the sustainable exploitation of the forest resources. Additionally, it will be valued if there are any impacts to the natural environment and if some of the forest roads had been constructed legally or not according to the guidelines.