water, as a problem.

[repulsewarrior]

today it rained in Cyprus. People were relieved. but the crisis has not yet begun with the summer months to follow.

In an act of preparedness I have opened this topic with the hope that other members will add to the knowledge we have on the subject.

http://www.moa.gov.cy/moa/wdd/Wdd.nsf/reservoir_en/reservoir_en?OpenDocument

[SP]

My parents "retired" to Cyprus in 1984. At least since that time , there have been water shortages in Kyrenia, especially in the summer. This is NOT a new problem but it's caught the public imagination now.

People still sluice their front steps with water and cool down their patios with yet more of this hard to come by commodity.

If my memory serves me correctly, a fiasco whereby water was towed in balloons from Turkey was started in the mid 90's. I say fiasco since after more than 18 months of work on the project, when the first "balloon" was towed to the discharge point it was discovered that the couplings on the pipes didn't match, and so the "balloon" was towed away again.

This known water shortage hasn't stopped developers building a great number of houses with swimming pools. But presumably someone in authority gave permission to do this.

I'm afraid, these days, the Cypriot mentality boils down to "I'm alright Jack, so screw you", unless they have the problem. Then its a different story.

To illustrate this point, yesterday, around twenty people, teachers and students were collecting LITTER from a "Protected Area" of natural beauty. Students were a mix of Cypriot and Turkish Nationals. After about an hour and a half of effort, a Cypriot student had a break and sat down to open a pack of cigarettes. This student then threw the cellophane wrapping and silver paper on the ground. The point of the exercise seemed to have eluded this student.

[depurple]

If they all drunk beer instead of water and showered together that would solve the problem!
cheers

[city]

bit short-sighted, eh...? and not funny at all
Unless of course YOU don't cook food, wash your clothes, bath your kids, flush your toilet, water your plants.......

ah, and btw, with NO water at all, you may also encounter some problems to have a group-shower

[repulsewarrior]

...pity for the baloons, because that actually sounds like a good idea.

[depurple]

Good Evening City! How are you?
" you may also encounter some problems to have a group-shower"
Like what? Pray tell?
You don't mean don't bend over and pick up the soap!
OH Behave!
cheers
PS just joking! Its the TOURISTS! They have 3 or 4 showers a day and waste the precious water for the rest of Cyprus!
Charge the tourist or put a time limit! cheers again!
City! You are right when I am in the shower with my girlfriend I take longer to shower!
With my wife its not so bad! Only a few minutes!

[depurple]

City I forgot to answer the rest of your posting!

I don't cook food: ( I eat at restaurants only)
Wash your clothes ( I go to the laundry)
Bath your kids, (I take them outside when it rains)
Flush your toilet, ( I do it outside and it help fertilizes the Lemon Trees!)
Water your plants (Already answered in the above question)
cheers!
PS You forgot drinking water!
I stopped drinking water when I found out fish and micro organs have sex in it!) I will stick to drinking beer!
Many thanks and cheers again!

[repulsewarrior]

Seeking strategies to adapt to climate change
By Andreas Avgousti

CYPRUS has to focus on using renewable energy sources in day-to-day life as long as the technology of using these to power desalination plants remains elusive, American experts advised yesterday.

They added that converting solar-thermal energy into electricity currently seems to be the most promising technology, and that more needs to be made of wind power.

The three experts discussed climate change and water resource management at a video conference organised by the State Department in Washington D.C.

Authorities from Cyprus, Ukraine and Russia had the opportunity to listen to the US experts and pose questions in a 90-minute event.

“We are more confident both as regards the types of impact of climate change we are expecting, and in the science of climate change and the man-made causes behind it,” the panel moderator said.

“Certain regions will be confronted with very specific impacts: we need to be confident about these impacts so we can adapt.”

It was made clear that humans were directly causing climate change, and that much of this filters through via water issues.

Europe and Russia have been identified as regions which would soon be warmer, although the increase in ground temperature is not expected to be uniform worldwide.

“The last five years have been the warmest on record,” said environmental academic Dennis Ojima.

“There have been increases in the rise of sea level and changes in the snow patterns of the northern hemisphere.”

This has consequences for the water flow in oceans and consequently on the water distribution globally.

Human populations which have settled in areas where they expect water may therefore find their habitats become uninhabitable, Ojima argued.

Consequently, demographic changes can be expected which can lead to overpopulation in cities, the creation of refugees and pressure on national borders which would increase political instability.

Biologist Alexander Dehgan pointed to Madagascar’s extinction crisis where the destruction of 80 per cent of the island’s forests has had a dramatic effect on species, while Afghanistan has lost 20 per cent of its glaciers over the last 20 years.

Dehgan reminded his listeners that, “countries have gone to war over environmental causes, not just in Africa but, for example, the so-called ‘Cod Wars’ between Iceland and the United Kingdom.”

These were a series of three confrontations in the 1950s and 1970s regarding fishing rights in the North Atlantic Ocean.

Dehgan explained that there are two strategies to coping with climate change.

Mitigation: what we can do to prevent it, and adaptation: what we can do to accommodate it.

Ojima thought that what mattered is “coupling science and decision making: we have to find ways to present climate change scenarios in a format which decision makers can understand and act upon.”

Ojima emphasised that adaptive management processes have to be local, since climate change expresses itself at a local scale.

“You cannot come up with one management option globally,” Ojima said in response to the Mail’s question about defining where the ‘local’ begins and ends.

Ross Corotis, a professor of engineering, highlighted the fact that, “there’s always been variability in the climate and therefore the issue is how to adapt to it.”

He suggested various ways in which a society could be made less vulnerable to potable water shortages.

These included accommodating the assumptions about annual rainfall, voluntary restrictions at the immediate onset of a drought, building low flow facilities and encouraging local entrapment of water.

The Mail asked the experts whether there exists a responsibility on behalf of those countries which are not badly hit by climate change to those that bear the brunt of the change.

“We have to address this,” said Corotis. “It is not a matter of reparations or a cleavage between the ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots.’ Instead, each country should provide assistance in accordance with its capabilities.

“Climate change is a long-term issue which is dealt with by short-term governments.”

Corotis suggested that rewards for addressing climate change should be built into the political system.

“Global problems cannot be resolved by an individual country,” was Dehgan’s response.

“Non-human species and infectious diseases do not respect international boundaries.

Sharing and transferring technology is part of the answer, as is downscaling local decisions.”

The conference ended with the moderator pointing to the silver lining around the ‘cloud’ of climate change:

“This is an opportunity to expand economies, share technologies and create international partnerships which otherwise would not have happened.”




Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2008

[repulsewarrior]

http://desertification.wordpress.com/2008/05/27/cyprus-turning-into-a-desert-island-google-cyprus-mail/

Cyprus turning into a desert island

[repulsewarrior]

Climate change threat looms for Cyprus
By Marianna Pissa

CYPRUS is in a region of the planet that will be affected the most by climate change, the Environment Commissioner warned yesterday in his speech to mark World Environment Day.

World Environment Day is celebrated every year on June 5. This year’s slogan is “Kick the Habit! Towards a Low Carbon Economy”. Recognising that climate change is becoming the crucial issue of our era, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) aims at inspiring and encouraging actions to eliminate the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, CO2, a main contributor to global warming, asking countries, companies and communities to focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Environment Commissioner Charalambos Theopemptou yesterday issued a stark assessment of the situation: “We are in a region of the planet that will be affected the most by the climate change. With the preparation of the report on how to confront desertification, a study will also have to be prepared very quickly on the economic repercussions that climate change will bring to the economy. Essential measures for the confrontation of the problem have not yet been taken.”

AKEL Spokesman Andros Kyprianou said yesterday Cyprus faced the exacerbation of a series of environmental problems resulting from the violent separation of the Cypriot ecosystem following the invasion of 1974, but also the years of lawless development and the lack of government policy.

“We are paying for the thoughtless destruction of the environment, the blatant improvisations, the arbitrariness of the works, where the profiteering mentality prevailed,” Kyprianou said.

AKEL mentioned as challenges the management of water resources, the promotion and use of renewable energy sources, the environmental management of sewage and solid waste, the protection of nature and the consumer, the urban organisation and upgrade of the cities, the confrontation and resolution of the traffic system and the control of the pollution of the atmosphere.

“In the subjects of water and energy we are paying for the indecisiveness of previous governments, which failed to create a unified national water authority or an Energy Centre” Kyprianou added.

Meanwhile, the Akamas Communities Co-ordinating Committee issued a statement yesterday to say protection of the peninsula was a one-way road, with the application of a strategy for sustainable development and the protection of the Akamas environment by the government and the residents.

In a statement, the Committee said the protection of Akamas did not just require political will and proper policies, but also the will to change our lives even a little. “The economy, the society and our way of life need to adapt to the limits of the ecosystems, the biotopes, the natural resources, the resistances of planet and the elementary requirements for the quality of life,” the committee said.



Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2008

[repulsewarrior]

Climate change paints bleak picture for Cyprus
By Andy Ioannou 08.JUN.08

Environment Commissioner Charalambos Theopemptou has said that according to scientific information, summers in the Mediterranean region in the year 2060 will be six weeks longer than they are now.

Theopemptou made the revelation during his speech at the AKEL conference on global climate change.

He said that Cyprus is just one country that will see an increase in temperatures and decrease in precipitation and added that the impact of temperature rises will mainly be felt by plants and trees that now thrive in Cyprus.

He added that the data suggested there would be an increased presence of insects and soil erosion due to extreme weather events, which will affect the region, thus creating a desert landscape in some areas.
- Copyright © Famagusta Gazette 2008

[repulsewarrior]

[repulsewarrior]

[repulsewarrior]

[brother]

Ahhhhhhh.... the great cypriot mentality never ceases to not surprise me lol