In this interview, the PSI talked to Evgenia Chamilou, UN Youth Champion for Environment and Peace, from Cyprus. Evgenia is 23 years old and has been involved in advocacy, youth empowerment, European affairs and diplomacy from a young age. Having finished her Master's in Public International Law at the London School of Economics, she is currently a trainee at the Council of Europe. As a student, Evgenia became involved with many NGOs, attending conferences around the world, including pre-COP26 negotiations and the COP26 in Glasgow. In this interview, we discussed the role of climate change, the environment and energy in creating sustainable peace in Cyprus.
Could you tell us something about the environmental peacebuilding projects you have been involved in?
I have been a UN Youth Champion for Environment and Peace since 2020, when the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) brought 10 Turkish and 10 Greek Cypriots together, half female and half male. After some key trainings on climate science we started advocacy activities, designing projects and campaigns across the island. The programme continued in 2021, with even more young people being involved. We are still involved in the old projects and also have new things planned, specifically for COP27.
An example of a project ‘born out’ of the Youth Champions is an initiative called ‘Avli’, which translates to ‘courtyard’ or ‘garden’ in both Greek and Turkish. Avli is a platform providing a space for Cypriots from all across the island to exchange ideas about the threat that climate change poses to the island. I worked specifically with a project called ‘Watchdog’, in which we try to gather data on different policies, mainly from the Republic of Cyprus but also from the North. Sometimes we participate in public consultations, both at national and EU levels. We draft comments on Cyprus’ Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) and for European Commission projects.
How does the environment help you to bring the two communities together?
Cyprus is a small island. The impacts of climate change are equally felt on both parts, which is a good and a bad thing. We are all passionate about protecting our common environment in Cyprus, and climate change does not recognise dividing lines. When people are passionate about a cause they usually ignore other issues.
The environment has great potential to contribute to cooperation on the island, but there are problems. During my studies, I explored using natural gas resources as potentially contributing to peacebuilding. Unfortunately gas has so far only exacerbated the conflict, with Turkey violating the sovereignty of the Republic not only at land but now also in its Exclusive Economic Zone at sea, where a lot of natural gas is located.
The Green Line, the buffer zone between North and South, is home to a unique variety of species due to its abandonment by humans. How can the biodiversity in this area help in bringing the two communities together?
The line is indeed very green compared to the rest of the island. We had trainings with the technical committees on the environment. In these committees, experts from both sides cooperate on environmental issues. The caveat in this is that the committees are very much dependent upon the leaders of the two communities, by which they are appointed. When there is an opportunity for environmental action, the experts are constrained by the political will of the leaders to act.
Biodiversity is definitely flourishing in the Green Line, and I was impressed when I learned about how all sorts of species exist here. An example of this is the Mouflon, which is a kind of deer that only exists in Cyprus and is flourishing in the Green Line. Unfortunately, biodiversity has also made the area a spot for illegal human activity. People from both sides dump waste in the Green Line: the area is not regulated, and neither side can undertake action against it. Another problem is hunting. Mouflon meat has a very unique taste, which makes it attractive to the black market. Unfortunately, we are seeing very negative developments from people exploiting the rich biodiversity.
You co-founded the “GD4C — Green Deal 4 Cyprus” initiative, which aims to better align Cyprus with the European Green Deal ambitions. What is the role of the European Green Deal in the Cypriot energy transition?
As far as we know, all the mechanisms that the Commission has enacted have a budget of 8.9 million euros for clean energy in Cyprus. However, these funds will only go to areas controlled by the Republic of Cyprus. We cannot just ignore half of the island. Air quality will not necessarily improve if factories in the South pollute less, while extraction, mining and factory production continue in the North. There is no law on recycling in the North. What is the meaning of a European Green Deal and net-zero when EU legislation will not be applied across the whole island? Luckily there are many other ways to use EU funding to empower civil society in the Northern part of the island. We should not wait for the settlement of the Cyprus problem to take action to protect the environment.
The Republic of Cyprus presented a roadmap for achieving Cyprus’ energy and climate targets, the National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP), by 2030. How does this roadmap help to address environmental issues in Cyprus?
Drafting plans is one thing but their implementation is another. Obviously, we are not on track to meet the 2030 goals set by the European Green Deal, and we are still talking about natural gas as a transition fuel. Even if we do achieve the current goal of emission reduction by 2030, there still is a gap between that scenario and achieving climate neutrality in 2050. We are still talking about the EastMed pipeline as a central energy source, but that is very incompatible with our long-term goals in the European Green Deal. It also cripples our ability to invest in other sources of energy. We still focus on natural gas because of its importance for foreign policy and investment.
What do you think are long term solutions to the conflict in Cyprus, and how could these take into account climate change?
There are a lot of ideas, but implementing them takes political will. Civil society has a role in educating and changing the culture, to motivate the citizens to take a different approach. Grassroots processes cannot alone solve the Cyprus problems, but they have an important role in education and changing the culture. Sometimes youth advocates will say that we need more youth voices and new ideas, but that is not always the truth. Sometimes young people are just reflections of older ideas, so age does not necessarily determine anything. Our generation takes peace for granted, because we have not experienced war. We do experience some of the consequences, but not what happened.
When it comes to climate change, the UN Youth Champions for Environment and Peace and UNFICYP are planning to draw a common plan for environmental protection in Cyprus. The previous UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Elizabeth Spehar, had the idea of having cooperation on solar energy in the buffer zone, making it independent of both the different parts of Cyprus and other countries. In this way, renewable energy could benefit both sides.
Read our previous interview with Carolina Matamoros Ferro on the Colombian National Defence environmental policy.
For more information on the role of natural gas in relations in the relations between Cyprus, Greece and Turkey, read our policy paper.