Cyprus’rich and varied  natural life is the focus of dedicated  and expert  professionals fighting  for its conservation.

Taking a walk along one of Troodos’ nature trails reveals the significant range  and diversity of Cyprus’ flora and fauna , many of which are rare or endangered  species protected by European directives and international conventions.

A project titled  Establishment of a Plant Micro-Reserve (PMR) Network in Cyprus for the Conservation of Priority Species and Habitats  was lauched last year by a consortium  of  committed organizations, with the aim of improving the conservation status of for priority species and two priority habitat types on the island.

As update on the project’s progress was recently presented at a bi-communal workshop organized jointly by UNDP-ACT and Frederick University, featuring the participation of 50 Greek Cypriot  and Turkish Cypriot nature conservation experts.

The PMR project titled  Establishment of a Plant Micro-Reserve Network in Cyprus for the Conservation of Priority Species  and Habitats  , started in January 2010. Implemented within the framework of the European LIFE+programme, it has a forty-two-month duration , focusing on the conservation of four priority plant species and two priority habitat types of Cyprus through the establishment, monitoring and management of a network of five Plant Micro-Reserves.

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Money invested in protecting nature can bring huge financial returns, according to an expert in environmental and financial markets and investment.

Speaking to , Nick Hanley, Professor of Environmental Economics of the University of Stirling, Scotland said that there was now clear evidence to show that conserving ecosystems such as wetlands and forests was a sound economic investment.

Hanley, who recently visited Nicosia to give a lecture entitled `Is there an economic case for protecting nature`, explained that in order to understand why conserving the environment was guaranteed to bring financial benefits, we must first determine when economic resources have economic value.

“Resources are of economic importance when they are bought and sold in markets, when they contribute to the well-being of humans and when they are useful inputs to the production of other goods and services.”

He explained that because not all of these benefits are valued in markets they do not all have a market value.

“Nature, however, contains stocks of capital resources, such as forests and wetlands which yield a flow of valuable goods and services. For example, ecosystem services such as pollination and flood defences provided by ecosystems are of clear benefit to people.”

He added that some benefits from managing forests show up as market values, such as benefits from timber extraction and sale as well as charcoal.

But many, such as the values of protecting wildlife, values of avoided soil erosion, values of forests for recreaction and education, and values of forests in terms of landscape quality do not.

“There are limits to economic valuation and some ecosystem service benefits lend themselves more successfully to monetary valuation than others,” said Hanley.

He explained that the value of other ecosystem services have been well known for centuries. These include food, fibre and recreational opportunities which are clearly valued and already influence the way we use our land.

According to Hanley, what has been lacking for years is a systematic approach to identifiying and valuing the full range of nature`s services.

He noted that as our understanding of the scale and proximity of the dangers of climate change and loss of biodiversity grows the need to find effective solutions becomes more urgent.

“Since not all benefits from protecting nature are valued by markets, landowners often do not have enough of a financial incentive to decide to conserve nature, rather than develop it. Development can bring market valued benefits, for example when a wetland is drained to allow agricultural production but this means we lose the economic benefits of protecting the wetland.”

He added that the business logic for protecting nature has always been a harder sell than making the case for other initiatives but now governments all over the world are beginning to use new evidence to make economy based decisions.

“There is now enough evidence to prove that protecting nature produces undisputed economic benefits. In the UK this has been happening at an increasing rate for the last 15 years.”

One recent study id the TEEB report, an international initiative to draw attention to the global economic benefits of biodiversity, which provides many examples of the kinds of economic benefits protecting eco-systems can offer.

“Altough many of these ecosystem services are not valued by markets even the slightest changes in any or all of these would have economic costs and benefits and economists have been developing a range of methods for measuring the value in euro of changes in these ecosystem services.”

Concluding, Hanley said conserving nature was guaranteed to lead to real economic benefits.

“In many cases, these benefits seem big enough to make the case for conservation.

A healthy natural environment supplies us with a multitude of life supporting and life enhancing benefits,” said Hanley. “Changes in ecosystem management will produce changes in ecosystem services and we are now in a position to measure the economic values of such changes.

“For the benefits to become widespread conserving nature as well as management of natural resources should become a routine part of government planning.”

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Besides the preservation of state and private woodlands which cover 25% of the island’s area, the protection of individual trees or proves is possible through the issuing of special orders by the Town Planning and Housing Department .

This can be done by either the owner of the property on which the tree(s) stand or a concerned party such as a local authority sending a letter to the Director of Town Planning Department.

The letter then asks the Forestry  Department to prepare a report for the consideration of Town Planning.

There is a firm practice on the part of the  Forestry department to seek the consent of the owner for a preservation order concerning his property. Where property development gets in the way, advice and guidance may be offered to incorporate an important tree in the project.

A case in  point is Cyprus ‘ oldest surviving 800-year old olive tree an Anglisides village, where a private house has been built seven metres from it. But even where a preservation order is not issued, the tree still enjoys protection  under the legislation requiring a permit by the Forestry Department for any interference.  A new batch of some 34 preservation orders for individual trees and eight for groves accumulated in 2010 are expected to come into force early this year.

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Cyprus’ economic recovery could accelerate to close to %2 GDP growth this year, according to a preliminary estimate by visiting IMF officials.

“A gradual economic recovery is underway with growth likely to reach the 1.5-2% range this year and favourable prospects for a continued upturn in 2012,” IMF official Wes McGrew told reporters.

He said the `generally favourable outlook` was subject to high risks especially from ongoing “financial turbulence” in other eurozone countries.

The International Monetary Funt  said the biggest challenge facing the island’s economy was reducing the fiscal deficit which is almost double the EU ceiling of 3%.

Another possible risk is the contracting British Economy having a direct impact on a tourism industry reliant on UK visitors.

McGrew said the government needed to curb its bloated wage bill and forge ahead with pension reform. “Countries across Europe are pursuing far-reaching reforms to correct fiscal imbalances and preserve  investor      confidence and Cyprus should seize the opportunity.”

But he said government should  pursue a policy of restraining      expenditure rather than increasing revenue through taxation.

Despite  going  on an austerity drive the government has hiked the price of cigarettes and introduced 5% VAT on previously zero-rated food and medicines.

It also seeks to increase a levy on large property holdings to get the deficit down below 4% of GDP this year.

“long-term prosperity in Cyprus depends in large part on its continued growth as an international business and finance centre- which rests upon has no estimate of what it expects the unemployment a foundation of sound public finances,” said McGrew.

Currently, the IMF has no estimate of what it expects the unemployment level to be at this year.

The government predicts improved tourism income will help the economy to grow by around 1.5% in 2011 after an unprecedented year-long recession in 2009.

In expects GDP growth figures for 2011 to touch one percent after the economy shrank by 1.7% in 2009.

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Green Key

In addition to the Blue Flag, FEE also runs the Green Key Programme for Hotels and Tourist accommodations.

The Green Key is an international eco-label which is awarded to hotels that act as responsible businesses and make choices that constantly contribute to the protection of the environment and the sustainability of natural resources.

The criteria cover three main areas environmental management, communication and training and technical criteria   on efficiency in energy and water consumption, waste separation, use of environmentally-friendly chemicals, etc.

The first 3 Green Key Hotels awarded in Cyprus are:

-Atlantica Bay Hotel in Lemesos

-Atlantica Golden Beach in Pafos

-Hilton Cyprus in Nicosia

All these hotels have developed an environment protection strategy and have taken measures to limit their impact and improve the environment in and around their establishments. Care for the environment underlines the corporate and social responsibility of the hospitality industry and  these hotels constitute an excellent example of this.

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