Access to irrigation water is an advantage. Water is a tool and a means of ensuring ideal conditions for plant growth and optimization of yield. Sources of irrigation water are potentially all water resources, surface, underground and reclaimed. In the Zitsa’s plateau, the absence of a collective irrigation system entails high watering costs. For this reason, the present work investigates the feasibility of collective irrigation work, given the available resources, the limitations of existing legislation, the possibilities of exploiting financial sources, and the estimated impact of the project on society. The solution that has been addressed is the on-stream reservoir, in which, for the full coverage of needs, the simultaneous use of three small reservoirs is required.

Water resource management is a complex and demanding procedure. Hence, continuous monitoring and updating of the anthropogenic pressures on water bodies is necessary, including both the current state and the response. The case study of Kalamas water body is strongly connected with the natural and the socioeconomic environment in the Municipality of Zitsa. In this context, this paper presents the composition of an inventory of point and diffused human-induced pressures for four major parameters affecting water quality. The contribution of several activities to the pollution of Kalamas river is also assessed. Furthermore, the river's quality status is presented according to recent measurements, and an integrated plan for dealing with existing pressures is proposed.

The ongoing multidimensional crisis demands new development approaches that respond to actual needs and describe the way for the creative utilization of the particular characteristics of the natural and socioeconomic environment. The need for this kind of planning approaches becomes more intense in mountainous areas, which remained to a large extent outside the dominant development strategies. Integrated approach, interdisciplinarity and education can be key features of these new approaches. In this context, within the course “Introduction to Environment and Development Science” of the interdisciplinary postgraduate programme “Environment and Development” at the National Technical University of Athens (concentration “Environment and Development of Mountainous Areas”), the students conduct development surveys for different regions in Greece using the methodology of WID (Worthliving Integrated Development). During the academic year of 2015-2016, an interdisciplinary workgroup of students of various disciplines conducted a development study for the mountainous municipality of Georgios Karaiskakis, based on the methodology of Worthliving Integrated Development. This paper presents the methodological steps followed in the educational process in order to highlight to the general public the systematic methodology of integrated development, as well as its developmental results for the study area.

Mountain areas are turning into up-and-coming tourism destinations, as pockets of invaluable natural and cultural heritage. Considering that mass tourism induces major negative impacts on mountain communities and ecosystems, a different approach of tourism development is necessary to be established. The improvement of   livelihood of local host population, the environmental protection, the exposure and revitalization of local culture must be the principles of mountain tourism development. In the frame of alternative forms of tourism, the Municipality of Karaiskakis is examined as a region of nature-based tourism development through hiking routes. Specifically, the river landscape is selected to be the research area and spot interventions are proposed so that its distinctive natural and cultural elements to be designated.