Ecological footprint of road traffic on Cres-Lo inj Archipelago

Cres-Lo inj Archipelago is the largest insular traffic unit in Northern Adriatic. The archipelago consists of two large islands, Cres and Lo inj, and 27 smaller islands located among Kvarner, Kvarneri , Rijeka Bay and open sea. From the point of view of traffic, this area gravitates mostly toward Rijeka traffic node. Traffic development of the islands was determined in the second half of the 20th century with the development of ferry traffic and road traffic on the islands. Today, the Archipelago is characterized by prominent seasonal variations of road traffic intensity due to dominant role of tourism in space valorisation. This research included partial determination of Ecological Footprint of road traffic on the islands on the basis of CO2 emission and capacity of insular surfaces to absorb CO2.The author also created a model for calculating road mileage on the islands and indirectly calculated CO2 emission. The results indicated significant seasonal variations of CO2 emission on the islands, which are closely related to tourist valorisation of space and the number of non-residential vehicles on the islands. The paper also provides the ratio between residential and non-residential vehicles on the island, which influence the emission in accordance with their energy efficiency. The research showed that the capacity of CO2 absorption on Cres-Lo inj Archipelago is approximately 40 times greater than CO2 emission from road traffic during one year.