Citizens' perceptions and environmental risk assessment in Eastern Mediterranean : the case of Limassol

This paper provides a comprehensive study assessing anthropogenic related environmental risks for the coastal city of Limassol, Cyprus. The case of Limassol is interesting because it is characterized by an increased number of industrial activities, both varied and tightly concentrated in a relatively small geographic area. We initiate the research by looking at citizens' perceptions for environmental threats through an extended opinion survey. We utilize the results of the survey to direct our research across 6 industries, involving 88 institutional stakeholders. For each sector, we map industrial activities to potential threats and qualify the risk level of each threat as the likelihood of risk realization times the impact to citizens' wellbeing should the risk event occurs. We thereon identify areas in which threats are interactive and the corresponding risks synergistic. Our findings inform a range of policy recommendations for ameliorating man-made environmental risk for coastal cities. Discrepancies

between citizens' perceptions and actual data underscore the importance of effective risk communication. [Publisher's text]