Assessing Sustainability and Socio-Economic Viability in Inhabited Protected Areas: A Framework Based on the West-Estonian Archipelago Biosphere Reserve

Protected areas are increasingly expected to reconcile biodiversity conservation with socio-economic sustainability, yet operational tools for assessing local sustainability are limited. This study develops a replicable viability index as an operationalization of socio-economic sustainability at the settlement scale, focusing on the capacity of rural communities to maintain demographic balance and housing dynamics over time. The framework was applied to the West Estonian Archipelago Biosphere Re