Filenews 15 March 2021
PHOTOS: DIMITRIS BATTIS
INTERVIEW: SOCRATES IOAKEIM
Environment Commissioner Clelia Vassiliou talks about the impact of the pandemic on environmental protection and highlights the benefits of businesses carrying out environmental actions. In an interview with Insider he also talks about recycling, the use of renewable energy sources and the new innovative technologies that will change our daily lives.
What impact has the coronavirus pandemic had on environmental protection:
We are already closing a year of pandemics and indeed a series of results of direct or indirect relations with the environment are being recorded. Quite positive and inevitably more negative. In the first place, and not knowing the evolution of this strange treaty that we are called upon to deal with, we assessed our first confinement as a breath of fresh air for the environment, and to some extent it was. The large production engines stopped for a while, restricted air traffic as well as on the roads. It was a good temporary break for nature that is overworked by the pressures of intense human activity. However, the duration has brought to the surface a number of problems directly related to protective measures, masks, in general disposable materials which were and are necessary for the preservation of public health. We saw masks left free in nature, and with them drowning marine species, or birds. Furthermore, the priority dimension in ensuring public health has brought to light other problems such as the lack of control mechanisms imposed by the reorganisation of the operation of the State machine and also by the citizens. Many issues have necessarily been brought to a head without acknowledging from the outset that the root of even this pandemic itself is based on our poor relationship with the environment. The climate and environmental crisis of the last 3 decades unfortunately creates enormous complications both in creating threats to public health since our actions weaken nature's ability to protect us. Biodiversity is constantly being affected in a way that deprives us of the service of resilient organisms capable of resisting all kinds of viruses created by the wounds we create in the environment.
THE POLITICS SHOULD BE DOWN
What are the most important actions your office is running?
We strive to be as beneficial as we can based on the capabilities provided to us as an Office. We repeat here too that we do not have executive power, nor do we have a budget as an office. On this basis, we try to act catalytically and horizontally in terms of our contribution to resolving issues relating to the quality of the environment and by extension the quality of life that citizens enjoy. When I took office a year ago, I had a completely different targeting of movements than pandemic restrictions ultimately impose. Our goal was to spend as much time as we can outside, close to the citizens, in business, talking, discussing resolving issues. To be creative, to coalition acts of synergy, to explain and to learn. The pandemic has changed the whole targeting in this direction. Yes, efforts are made online, presentations, etc., but the environment is not a pattern, and in any case human contact and communication cannot be replaced in any way.
In the office every day we handle citizen complaints. As long as our powers allow us to examine each complaint on the spot in order to identify the problem in its own right and in the same way. This helps us to understand more possible system malfunctions or even in cases where legislative loopholes are exploited for which we propose corrections.
At the moment the priority that exists in the office is to restore the cleanliness of our place from garbage, and to find ways and mechanisms to control the illegal disposal of waste throughout the republic of Cyprus. It is something that saddens and afflicts us since it cannot be easily documented by the illegals. Citizens are reluctant to report by name and the problem is growing. Suffice it to say that for Europol, the issue of waste – environmental crime is ranked as third in seriousness after that of drugs and trafficking in persons.
In your opinion, is Cyprus investing in environmental protection as much as it should?
We can always do better. We're already doing enough, we've got a lot of environmental laws. We do not lack environmental tools and in recent years we have been making strides compared to previous years. The job we must do in my humble opinion is to educate citizens to recognise the importance of the environment for our quality of life and health. For too many years, citizens have perceived the environment as a hostile act to their interests, as another burden or threat yet. The Government owes something more important: to join forces to exploit the legal tools at our disposal in order to effectively protect the great provider of life that is our place and to highlight exactly our Cyprus for this wealth that it carries since its creation. Our country is a rare collector of environmental wealth that not only needs to be preserved but also through protection and rehabilitation to give jobs to environmentally and culturally related sciences.
What gaps are there in state-private cooperation and interaction in environmental actions?
I'm identifying the problem in matters of work culture. The speeds and the specialization with which the two poles operate operate in conflict and more difficult collaboratively. To put it more simply, the State is obliged to do what only the legislation allows, while the private sector leans on what is not prohibited. There is also an issue concerning the multi-division of environmental issues in many different departments as well as Ministries, so that procedures require longer examination time than private rates require. At the same time, it is easy to understand that in the absence of uniform and holistic management of issues, there is room for "creative ambiguity" and initiatives that sometimes work positively while in other cases with a negative footprint.
WIN INVESTMENT IN THE ENVIRONMENT
What is the benefit to an undertaking carrying out environmental actions?
First of all the benefit is first and foremost for the company itself. It is becoming clear that environmental issues are now on the agenda first, both globally and in particular at European level, through the new Green Agreement which calls for new approaches. The recommendations given to the company now concern more friendly practices in the use of raw materials and resources, green construction and the use of innovative tools for the use of energy, safety and protection of workers. Environmental practices, in addition to their benefit to the public interest, bring an upgraded person to the market, while more productive behaviour of workers who feel safer and happier in a working environment that takes care of their personal well-being is recorded. In addition, the environmental actions carried out by a company demonstrate its sensitivity and quality well-being in the context of its social awareness and contribution. In many cases it even seems that the environmental quality behaviour of an enterprise brings many more benefits in the medium term which translate as economic gain both in terms of savings and net revenues.
We occasionally see images that present Cyprus as a vast garbage dump. What could be done in your opinion beyond the operation of green spots?
A number of proposals are already under way which can significantly improve the current situation. There is an intention by the Ministry to strengthen the Green Points and in areas not covered today, the new legislation that puts a new and stricter framework in the Waste Legislation is being debated in the House, and more emphasis should be placed on waste prevention axes. We should all realise that we cannot produce rubbish at the same rate. Our culture and awareness of the subject begins as soon as we enter a supermarket. The way in which we choose our purchases automatically determines the production of our waste, whether it is called coffee shop, supermarket, clothes or furniture. This will also result in businesses adapting themselves to friendlier approaches. If, for example, we all choose yogurts packaged in ceramics and the possibility of returning them to the business for reuse automatically means triple profit: Reducing packaging costs for the producer, eliminating packaging costs for citizens, reducing the use of plastic for the environment. Indicative is also a recording made in Norway where citizens decided that they would buy the toothpaste without the cardboard box which they left on the supermarket shelf. The company received the message of waste and abolished paper unnecessary packaging.
How satisfied do you find the issue of recycling in Cyprus?
Many important efforts have been made so far, and we can even talk about fine examples. But we still have a long way to go, since recycling must make us aware not only of the separation of materials but also of the choice of new products resulting from recycling and become a priority of choice both at state level and among citizens. Reuse is something that should be experienced while at the same time incentivising companies investing in the reuse of materials and raw materials.
NO TO THE EXPENDITURE OF PHYSIA
How do you comment on the penetration of renewable energy sources (RES) into the Cypriot market?
Cyprus is ideal for the installation of photovoltaics. It is not for me to have a house in Cyprus that does not produce its own energy through photovoltaic panels. In this respect, the State must be a helper and a supporter. The sun itself is a huge resource for our country, something we cannot claim with the same ease for the wind. We must serve the use of RES as much as possible with enormous care. A special balance is needed to avoid the contradiction in installing RES in order to protect the environment by disrupting it. In Cyprus we have a variety of options from already heavy surfaces without drawing on other agricultural land, or more generally without the "spending" of another nature. The recommendations of the European Green Agreement or the Climate Agreement, or the Biodiversity Strategy, call for the restoration and support of biodiversity, the protection of the landscape and ecosystems, since our past sins have brought us to an exhaustive point of reserve in the provision of ecosystem services without which we do not live. At the same time, we must not forget that RES can also be made from waste treatment, which can give us alternative, environmentally friendly fuels.
What innovations can we expect in the coming years to see in our daily lives in the interests of environmental protection?
New technologies can become an important tool in this particular approach to environmental protection. They can become a tool in the hands of our farmers for limited or fair use of medicines for absolutely necessary sprays. If, for example, the farmer can measure the needs of his crops on the basis of soil specificity and microclimate in the quantity and quality of his products, he will have precise measurements of his actions. In other words, his intervention will have the least possible impact on both the earth and food production. In this, and in the excessive needs created by software systems for calculating food production and disposal, they will have a catalytic role, since it becomes clear to all of us how necessary is the rational management of food and the reduction of waste which until now has been reckless. Food security is not only about the way we consume and fly, but at the same time about the possibility of providing quantity and quality at the same time that we need to know the consumption of resources that our actions create. Another huge issue also concerns the need to record and cost the ecosystem services that nature provides through biodiversity. This is not a romantic view but it is about how we cost all the free services that nature offers and on which we depend. For too many years we have been consuming with the disposal of inexhaustible resources. What we are experiencing is the absolute realization that not only are they not inexhaustible but they are ending at a rapid pace and we must rush to recovery. At the end of the day, sooner or later the planet will recover. The same cannot be said of the future of humanity unless we make immediate substantial changes that will outline a better future for our children than what is currently prescribed.
