Zagori is a place with a rich natural and cultural heritage. A typical example is the folk medicine tradition of the region with the famous “Vicoyiatroi”, which was based on the richness of the local flora. Nowadays, this forgotten tradition can be a trigger for developing new entrepreneurial activities, which could create job opportunities and keep young people in the area.

The abandonment of buildings is typical of mountain areas, as a result of population decline, thus weakening the social structure. The changes that drained human life from the mountainous regions left vacant buildings or whole villages abandoned. The villages of Zagori region represent a net of settlements characterised by remarkable and well-preserved vernacular architecture. However, scattered throughout the region there are many buildings not housing any use that have been abandoned and already damaged at an important level.

In this paper, firstly, a  brief historical overview of the agricultural activities in the Municipality of Zagori is presented, secondly, the current situation is analyzed, and, finally, cultivation of new crops is proposed. The crops proposed (vines, vegetables, herbs, cranberries, berries, forage plants, chestnuts, walnuts) refer to species that existed and still exist in the region under consideration and considering current market data, they would constitute attractive investments.

It has been a common practice intervening, a posteriori, in post-industrial landscapes and degraded sites due to past human productive activities (like mining), aiming initially at their gradual environmental restoration and, at a second level, projecting their reintegration under modern means and terms into contemporaneity.

The biodiversity of mountainous areas is rich and it is threatened by climate changes. Mountain forests are particularly important ecosystems and are useful for the society. Climate change threatens their proper function and carries on many risks. Forest fires are the greatest. During the last decades, in Greece, they have become particularly intense. In the future, an increase in the frequency and intensity of forest fires is expected, even in higher altitudes.

In this paper, the creation of a susceptibility zonation map for landslide occurrence, using GIS, for the municipality of Zagori, is described. The map consists of five risk zones and was created by seven factors, linearly combined and properly calibrated, according to expert geoscientists as these factors are concerned to contribute to landslide occurrence. Based on this map, it is possible to determine the settlements, which aredirectly threatened by landslides. Moreover, the anticipation ofpotential landslide phenomena is possible.

Focusing on the dipole benefaction - sponsoring, we research, the effect on Zagori’s mountain culture, of the transition from the society of “long duration” to the society of consumption. From the Zagori of benefaction and culture to the brand-Zagori for consumption from the tourism industry. The transition from the pre-industrial society to the modern one impoverishes collectivization and degenerates the concept of benefaction. Modern society adopts the concept of sponsoring, for the merit of which, culture has to prove evidence of economic value.

This paper looks at the urban, architectural and social development of the traditional village Dilofo, situated in Central Zagori, Epirus, Greece.

Starting from historical information regarding Zagori and the first references to the existence of Dilofo, previously known as Sopotseli, this study follows the journey of the settlement from its creation as a village to present.

The cooperatives’ institution lies on the borderline of a series of crucial changes. In Zagori region the existence of cooperatives in the past has been decisive for local development. However, in the current social frame the cooperatives’ institution seems degenerated and weakened. Could the strengthening of cooperatives’ institution function as a key component of a robust development of Zagori, in particular, and of mountainous areas, in general?

The subject of the present study is the local social movements that develop opposing the sitting of an infrastructure or development project. It mainly focuses on the study and analysis of the example of Vovousa, where according to a proposed project, a part of the water flow of Aoos River which flows through the village of Vovousa will be pumped from an upflow point to the nearby lake of Pigon Aoos hydroelectric plant, rising strong opposition from the local community. The proposed project is presented and studied in terms of both techno-economic and social impact.