Coasts Without Frontiers

AKTI Project and Research Centre, through the framework of the project entitled "Coasts Without Frontiers", brought together Cypriot youth from 20 - 27 August 2005 at the camping-site of Polis Chrysohous. The twenty-five youth that attended were between the ages of 16 - 25 from Greek, Turkish and Maronite communities. Our environment has no frontiers, so together the youth of Cyprus learnt, discussed and promoted a sustainable future for our island through various workshops. These were focused on the coastal areas of Cyprus (in the north and south) and aimed towards the protection and preservation of the Cyprus coastal ecosystem. Sustainable tourism and green consumption were also discussed. The youth gained considerable knowledge on these matters and made strong foundations for newfound friendships.

The programme was richly filled with workshops, educational field trips, and fun activities for the youth. The experts that ensured the success of the workshops were: Michael Loizides (Environmental Engineer), Xenia Loizidou (Coastal Engineer), Kyriaki Demetriou (Contemporary European Studies), Andreas Demetropoulos (Marine Biologist), Doros Pafitis (Oceanographer) and Heracles Kyriakides (enologist).

Greek and Turkish Language Lessons During the Camp!

The language lessons for learning basic Greek and Turkish were delivered every morning by Constantia Sotiriou (Turkish Studies). This proved to be an important "tool" for making youngsters feel closer to each other and also played a major role in opening the participant's curiosity towards the differences and similarities that exist between their cultures and traditions.

Our coasts: learn about them- love them!

We need to understand how the coastal system (manmade and natural) works before interfering with it in any way. This was one of the main points of the workshop given on Sunday 21 August by Xenia Loizidou, Coastal Engineer and Doros Pafitis, Oceanografer. Sustainable coastal development is a "must" and in order to achieve this it is important to adopt an integrated approach when dealing with coastal zone, with the participation of all stakeholders. We have to stop treating our coastal areas as "money - making" resource. This attitude leads to degradation and destruction. EU and UN policies have Integrated Coastal Zone Management as a priority.

Visit to Kato Pyrgos

In order to have a clear understanding of how coastal zone management and development has been implemented until now as well as the future perspectives, on Thursday 25th August the participants visited the coast of Pyrgos village. The anarchous development and mainly the construction of the fishing shelter of Pyrgos, created a series of unfortunate outcomes. More than 30 meters of sandy beach at the east side of the shelter disappeared as a result of massive erosion, bringing a few beach constructions inside the sea and threatening many others. The team had the opportunity to walk, observe and discuss with the experts the coastal erosion, degradation of coastal ecosystems and destruction of the aesthetics of the area that are only a few of the many problems the area faces as a result of unsustainable coastal development.

Sustainable Tourist Development

On Tuesday 23rd August, our environmental expert, Michalis Loizides, gave a lecture-workshop followed by a role game on sustainable tourist development. The field visit of the previous day to Kouklia and other touristic areas of  Paphos, gave the right momentum for a very vivid discussion and game. The unsustainable model of tourist development that is being used all over the island was explained and discussed, focusing on the impacts that tourist has on the depletion of island's natural resources, on the aesthetics, on our culture and many other parameters that influence the lives of every Cypriot.  

Visit to Kouklia Village and the Ancient Castle

On Monday, 22 August, the group of the camp visited the picturesque Kouklia Village, which used to be harmoniously inhabited by Turkish-Cypriots and Greek-Cypriots before 1974. The participants had the chance to discuss several issues of the past and future of the village, with the President of the Community Council, Mr. Petrides. The president together with Mr Onisiforos, responsible from the ancient castle and museum of the village, guided the team throughout the village and the ancient sites using the myth as an important part of the scenery.

Multicultural evening

This evening was organized on Monday, 22nd August and was performed by all the youth members of the camp. Three funny sketches opened the show, following, by a performance of the "Zorba the Greek" dance. This dance was impressively taught from scratch to youth from the Turkish Cypriot community in just over an hour! A solo dance was then performed by the talented Eliz Volkan, aged 16, and the night continued with a singing chorus of common traditional and modern Cypriot songs, in Turkish and Greek, with more dancing till the early morning hours.

The magical evenings of the camp

Lying on the beach singing away under the stars! The chorus of voices singing common Cypriot songs were accompanied by Michael Loizides on his guitar and the crashing of waves against the shore in the background. The two communities were eager to exchange traditional songs. Some evenings involved BBQs, a fun quiz competition, strolls in the centre of Polis and a campfire. A kind of magic...

Moments of fame

The camp drew the interest of the Media. On Sunday, 21st August, the film crew from UNDP/UNOPS visited the campers to get live footage of the day. This will be included in the documentary UNDP/UNOPS is producing that includes all of the summer camps of this summer. On Monday (22 Aug) and Tuesday (23 Aug), the campers had the producers from the BIZ TV programme from PIK2 filming footage and taking interviews from the participants. BIZ, meaning "we" in Turkish is the only Greek-Cypriot television programme addressed directly to Turkish and Greek-Cypriots.

This publication has been supported by the Bi-communal Development Programme, which is funded by the USAID and UNDP, and executed by UNOPS.