Mapping the environmental risk of a tourist harbor in order to foster environmental security: objective vs subjective assessments

A new definition of environmental security gives equal importance to the objective and subjective assessments of environmental risk. In this framework, the management of tourist harbors has to take into account managers’ perceptions. The subject of the present study is a tourist harbor in southern Italy where six different managers are present. This paper aims to assess subjectively and objectively the environmental risks associated with the harbor, and to compare the results to provide estimates of environmental security. Hereby managers have been interviewed and a simple model is used for making preliminary assessment of environmental risks. The comparison of the results highlighted a common mismatch between risk perception and risk assessment. We demonstrated that the old part of the harbor is less secure than the new part. In addition, one specific manager representing a public authority showed a leading role in ensuring the environmental security of the whole harbor.