Islands at the periphery : overview of key sustainability issues in European islands

Abstract

Islands have been identified as areas of particular sensitivity in European land use contexts due to their isolation and generally small size. This survey spatially identifies European (EU25+5) islands and investigates key sustainability issues. Based on the SENSOR NUTS 0 map, 4,966 islands are identified, occupying 5.55% of EU25+5 land area. Island regions are found in 136 NUTS x units, and 25 of these are entirely made up of islands. 20 Spatial Regional Reference Framework categories contain islands. In order to identify key sustainability issues in EU25+5 islands a set of 28 study islands is identified and 12 key sustainable development issues identified on the basis of expert interviews. 16 sustainability indicators are selected to describe these issues from indicators suggested by interviewees, and SENSOR’s Module 2 indicators that relate to the EU impact issues. A spatial dataset based on these indicators is constructed and to ascertain whether particular areas of greater pressure in terms of these variables exist, statistical spatial cluster analysis is performed. Two distinct clusters emerge: Northern Islands and Southern Islands. Southern Islands indicated strong clustering for all variables, indicating the appropriateness of locating the SENSOR Islands Sensitive Area Case study (SAC) here. The island state of Malta, which occupies a central position in the Southern Islands Cluster, is suggested as the Islands SAC. This study has faced major constraints relating to lack of harmonised data on sustainability issues for European islands, mainly due to their low NUTS classification. There is a need for comparable datasets on these issues, which may be used to inform policy decisions at EU level regarding island sustainability.