Protecting the Cyclades from Mining and Overtourism

Islands
Gabriela Hudtwalcker
Table of contents

Abstract... pg 3

Introduction...pg 3

Overtourism and mining...pg 4-5

The solutions ...pg 8

Impacts of the solutions.. pg 8-9

Conclusion..pg 10

Refrences.. Pg 10-11

Table of figures

Figure 1...pg 4

Figure 2...pg 6

Image 1: ...pg 7
Abstract:
Islands are small areas of land surrounded by water and essential for the
Earths ecosystems. They are “hotspots of cultural biological and geophysical
diversity, and as such they form the basis of the livelihoods of millions of
islanders” (Kueffer and Kinney). They house diverse species and are the
foundations of many coral reefs as well. The issue at hand is the overcrowding
of tourists and the mining that is being done in the Cyclades islands. Taking
measures to protect the Cyclades islands against dangerous mining and
overtourism are necessary if we want to protect all the ecosystems needed to
keep the earth healthy.

Introduction:
As mentioned above, islands are important for the wellbeing of this earth
since they house many islanders, diverse and rare species and overall, just
provide many of the resources we need. They are a hotspot for tourists
especially since they have a beautiful and natural cultural ambiance, they are
secluded from the mainland, and they have easy access to all the marine and
coastal zones. Unfortunately, the Cyclades, which are the Greek islands off the
Aegean Sea, are suffering from overtourism and mining without rehabilitation
right now. This has been a prolonged issue because the two problems of
overtourism and mining go against each other and at the same time are
necessary for the economic stability of the islands. In this white paper, I will
go more into detail about how these two topics go against each other and are
important at the same time and suggest a solution to protect the island's
ecosystems while also keeping the economic stability of the islanders afloat.

Figure 1:
 Figure one above explains the three interconnecting ways of why islands are
important for our ecosystems
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/environmental-conservation/article/what-is-
the-importance-of-islands-to-environmental-
conservation/D5B4BCE5C0E47E3B4A69AA1E07A92EBE

Overtourism and mining in the Cyclades:

Having those diverse ecosystems, easy access to marine and coastal
waterways and being secluded, islands are expected to be a place that attracts
many people from all over the world. There has been a spike in the number of
tourists coming to these islands, which does help the economy, but it becomes
a problem when there are no regulations to stop the islands from accepting
too many people at once. With the increase in tourists the locals have had to
increase their planning to build more hotels, activities, transportation to and
from the mainland, and other things to accommodate for the tourists and that
takes up a lot of the space on the small islands taking away from some of its
natural beauty. Along with the overcrowding of people on the islands, mining
has also been taking up space in the Cyclades. Mining is essential for our
world because we use a lot of those resources in our cellphones, energy,
cement industries, and it helps with the economy of the islands but without
rehabilitation after its done, the land can degrade quickly. Ultimately the
problem is that both tourism and mining, which both help the Greece
economy, are also hurting the natural environment which is needed to keep
supplying them with their income from tourism.

Figure 2
The figure below shows arrivals in the Cyclades Island airports and the
increase in tourism from 2010-2017.
This figure depicts the high numbers of tourists that visit the Cyclades and
how those numbers have risen exponentially over the last couple of years.
https://www.proquest.com/docview/2256096664?pq-
origsite=primo&sourcetype=Other%20Sources&parentSessionId=XoXKNaLxTfhtgl4bWOq
1ZhcN6L7bkNmv149GG%2FWQtXI%3D

Image 1

The image above shows how overtourism can look in the Cyclades islands
https://www.smh.com.au/traveller/inspiration/greece-tourism-numbers-europes-latest-
victim-of-overtourism-20180606-h110v6.html
The Solutions

In order to continue being able to maintain and protect the natural

environments of these beautiful islands, there needs to be planning and
action to regulate the issues of mining and overtourism. One of the proposed
solutions would be to create a lawthat protects the island from mining being
too close to populated areas and protects them from never being left
abandoned for extended periods of time. If there is mining left unattained it
poses a threat to the environment and the health of the people around it. Also
incorporarting regulations to make sure the areas where there is mining ar
patrolled and have land rehabilitation after the mining has taken place. As for
the overpopulation of tourists that have been coming in, the solution would
be to regulate the tourist to a number that makes it so the island is not too
crowded and once it reaches capacity not let anymore tourists in. One last
solution would be getting the locals of the island to talk to the tourists about
geotourism. According to Derdemzi, Tsilimigkas, and Kizos, “Geotourism is a
branch of tourism that specifically focuses on geology and landscape. The
geotourism presupposes the tourists’ informing about the geoheritage and
the ways of protection and management of the landscape, contributing to the
sustainability of the place (Dowlling 2013; Dowlling and Newsome 2018).
Impacts of the solution
The three solutions proposed, regulating the number of tourists coming into
the islands, creating a law that institutes land rehabilitation after mining and
getting locals to talk to tourists about geotourism would all help to stop the
negative effects of mining in the Cyclades and the overtourism issues.
Installing a specific number and capping it at that when it comes to tourists
would significantly help with destroying the island's lands and ecosystems.
With the demand of tourism rising, there also is a rise with hotels, restraunts
and activities with it as well which is all very harmful to the island’s natural
beauty and ecosystems. Now, with mining it poses similar threats of damage
to the islands. Mining strips the land of all its minerals which is needed in our
world, but our solution would help the islands tremendously. With Island
rehabilitation laws, mining can still be done but will not leave the island's land
to degrade after the matter. The regulation law would restore the lands after
mining and help local health who live around the area where the mining is
being done. The last solution would be making it known to locals like tour
guides, restraunt/ hotel workers etc to talk to the locals about geotourism
because this would help to enhance and focus people on the natural aspects
of the island that attracts tourists in the first place.

Conclusion:
 The natural and cultural environments of the islands are crucial for the earth
in so many ways. The natural beauty and all the resources they provide make
them such unique and special spaces that attract people from all over the
world to visit and collect their resources through the process of mining.
Protecting the islands from overtourism and land degradation after mining
should be important to all those who love and travel to these islands and
inspire them to want to make a change to help protect them. Taking the
necessary precautions are simple ways to protect the islands from potential
threats to the environment while also maintaining the economic support that
tourists and mining give the Cyclades. If there is a plan of action to patrol and
rehabilitate the land while and after mining and not accept more tourists,
then the islands can handle or take up unnecessary land to fit the needs of
the tourists then the Cyclades will be able to keep being prospering.

References
Derdemezi, E.-T., Tsilimigkas, G., & Kizos, T. (n.d.). Taylor & Francis Online: Peer-
reviewed journals. Mining activity and island landscape issues: evidence from
Cyclades islands, Greece. https://www.tandfonline.com/
Kaiser, S. (2023, October 3). 5 reasons islands are important for the planet. 5
Reasons Islands are Important for the Planet.
https://www.islandconservation.org/five-reasons-islands-are-important-for-the-
planet/#:~:text=Island%20ecosystems%20are%20key%20foundations,as%20the%20Islan
d%20Mass%20Effect.

Kueffer, C., & Kinney, K. (2017, November 24). What is the importance of islands to
environmental conservation?: Environmental conservation. Cambridge Core.
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/environmental-conservation/article/what-is-
the-importance-of-islands-to-environmental-
conservation/D5B4BCE5C0E47E3B4A69AA1E07A92EBE
PROKOPIOU, D., MAVRIDOGLOU, G., TOANOGLOU, M., & TSELENTIS, B. (2018a).
TOURISM DEVELOPMENT OF THE CYCLADES ISLANDS: ECONOMIC, SOCIAL
AND CARRYING CAPACITY ASSESSMENT AND CONSEQUENCES.
https://www.proquest.com/docview/2256096664?pq-
origsite=primo&sourcetype=Other%20Sources

PROKOPIOU, D., MAVRIDOGLOU, G., TOANOGLOU, M., & TSELENTIS, B. (2018b).

TOURISM DEVELOPMENT OF THE CYCLADES ISLANDS: ECONOMIC, SOCIAL
AND CARRYING CAPACITY ASSESSMENT AND CONSEQUENCES.
https://www.proquest.com/docview/2256096664?pq-
origsite=primo&sourcetype=Other%20Sources