Stratos Arabatzis

Tero Ltd

Greece and Italy are facing serious energy challenges concerning sustainability and greenhouse gas emissions as well as security of supply and the competitiveness of the internal energy market. These challenges require investments by the public sector, while the countries have seen in the last years their debts rising. A solution to promote bioener...

Conservation scientists, national governments, and international conservation groups seek to devise, and implement, governance strategies that mitigate human impact on the environment. However, few studies to date have systematically investigated the performance of different systems of governance in achieving successful conservation outcomes. Here,...

Impact Assessment (IA) is increasingly used by the European Commission and Member States to assess the potential economic, social and environmental consequences of new policy initiatives. To support the IA process, the European Network of Excellence LIAISE is developing a Toolbox which is simultaneously accessible and useful for policy makers as we...

This paper presents a method of designing variable structure control systems for robots. As the on-board robot computational resources are limited, but in some cases the demands imposed on the robot by the user are virtually limitless, the solution is to produce a variable structure system. The task dependent part has to be exchanged, however the t...

Scientific breakthroughs have led to an increase in life expectancy, to the point where senior citizens comprise an ever increasing percentage of the general population. In this direction, the EU funded RAPP project “Robotic Applications for Delivering Smart User Empowering Applications” introduces socially interactive robots that will not only phy...

This study explores Knowledge Brokerage (KB) aspects of an ex-post Impact Assessment (IA) for the Rural Development Programme (RDP) measure of setting up young farmers, under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), at the regional level in Northern Greece. The measure supports the entry of young farmers in agriculture by moving land from older to you...

The current economic downturn has put public budgets under pressure, reducing investments and revenues for local stakeholders to cope, among other things, with contemporary demands of environmental protection. Local-based partnerships may provide an efficient tool by adopting, integrating and implementing actions based on awareness and participatio...

This chapter draws on results from previous chapters, in some cases creating new syntheses by combining information across chapters and including findings of previous projects. Its specific objective is to consolidate all these findings in the design of a system to support transaction of information for environmental assessments and decision suppor...

This chapter summarises the intentions, processes, and findings of the project, funded by the Commission of the European Union, to design a Transactional Environmental Support System (TESS). It provides an executive summary for the book.

This chapter describes the evaluation processes required by European Commission and added internally, including the strengths and weaknesses identified. Recommendations are made for removal of such weaknesses, and for building on strengths, in future projects.

Work in the 354 km2 Municipality of Kerkini studied ways to increase ecotourism without harming rich local biodiversity, in cooperation with government, NGOs and private stakeholders. Routes were mapped for hunting, horse-riding, walking and climbing.

The project RuralE.Evolution was funded in the framework of IEE (Intelligent Energy Europe) program with contract n°IEE/07/579/SI2.499063. The project started in November 2008 and finished in March 2011; it had the purpose to design an effective Methodology for a successful application of PPP scheme to agroenergy districts. The Consortium was forme...

This chapter reports the main results of GEM-CON-BIO (Governance and Ecosystems Management for the Conservation of Biodiversity), a FP6 funded project under Priority - Citizens and Governance in a knowledge-based society and highlights the path drawn by the currently ongoing FP7 project TESS (Transactional Environmental Support System). GEM-CON-BIO...

Human society developed through technological revolutions. Centralisation began with agriculture. An industrial revolution then led to strongly urbanised societies. Unfortunately, agriculture, industry and urbanisation now threaten the biosphere on which humans depend. Biodiversity conservation focussed on protection until Convention on Biological...

WATER-MAP is a 2-year project funded under the Community Initiative INTERREG III B ARCHIMED and implemented by nine partners from six countries (Greece, Italy, Malta, Cyprus, Turkey, and Palestinian Authority). The project looks at the topic of integrated groundwater resources management. The aim is to provide scientifically reliable information to...

This paper was developed in the context of the research project entitled GEM-CON-BIO (Governance and Ecosystems Management for the Conservation of Biodiversity), which is a European FP6 funded project under Priority 7 - Citizens and Governance in a Knowledge-Based Society. Its strategic objective is to explore the interactions between governance mo...

Today an integrated and complete system for the monitoring and management of water resources for a whole river basin does not exist. This paper presents the characteristics and showcases the design of such a system. The core of the system is based on water quality monitoring and risk management. This paper also highlights the need for the economic...

Over the past few hundred years, biodiversity has faced major challenges, including a growing demand for biological resources caused by population growth and increased consumption. Biodiversity is the basis for the successful provision of ecosystem services and therefore a key component of sustainable development. Biodiversity is also affected by a...