There is no other Cyprus

Which Cyprus is the real one – the one that boasts the cleanest bathing waters in Europe, the regular receipient of the Blue Flag beach award, or the other, so full of microplastics that they can be detected not only in its coastal waters but also in its turtle nesting sites, agricultural soils and even fish tissues?

And just how many Cypruses are there actually? One, two – maybe even more – since it depends on how and what you define as being Cyprus. Which brings us to the inevitable question – is it a matter of politics or geography? Man-made borders or natural barriers?

“Our island is divided in four parts,” professor of Transitional Justice and Human Rights at UClan Cyprus Nasia Hadjigeorgiou declares at the outset of of the recently made documentary There is No Other Cyprus (Mapping environmental destruction in the island’s north).

She goes beyond the standard south/north delineations to focus also on the buffer zone as well as the British Sovereign Bases. “These four geographical areas have little or no communication among them, and that makes it impossible to collect data about the environment and take meaningful action in order to protect it.”

This absence of a holistic approach to the island’s combined future plus the knowledge that the south-eastern Mediterranean region we live in is one of the places that will be most affected by climate change is a looming existential threat that Cypriot environmental activists are all too aware of and concerned about.

The urgent need for immediate action is reflected in the words of Feriha Tel, President of the Green Action Group, a Turkish Cypriot NGO focusing on cross-community environmental efforts.

“Climate change [in Cyprus] is truly being felt as a crisis and we need quickly and with good organisation to find a way to fight it together,” says Tel in the film.

The EU-funded documentary, produced by Nicosia-based independent bi-communal research hub Prio Centre Cyprus (PCC) in cooperation with Tel’s Green Action Group, is one of the first collective responses to the issue. Although the film deals mainly with the environmental problems faced by the north, its powerful message is directed to all Cypriots.

Turkish Cypriot economist Mertkan Hamit, also featured in the documentary, puts the issue in perspective, saying it is even more important than solving the Cyprus problem. “If we cannot solve this problem, there will bo no Cyprus problem left to solve. People simply will no longer have the place to live in,” he says.

Project coordinator and senior PCC researcher Mete Hatay, tells the Cyprus Mail there is “a real need” for the documentary. “The construction [in the north] is out of control – and it is not just construction – it is basically the destruction combined with total lack of preparation for climate change.”

He holds what he calls the “politics of irresponsibility” liable for “creating more and more mess.” The documentary, he says, seeks answers to some fundamental questions.

“Like, hey guys, what is happening here? You can see that the mountains are disappearing, and we are using water like there is no tomorrow… and we keep on building and building and our population is increasing but there is no infrastructure coming with it… and actually if we were to build the infrastructure that would mean more destruction so we are in this vicious circle…”

With a knowing shake of his head, Hatay notes the perennial elephant in the room: “We [the north] are an unrecognised state – which means that the whole international system doesn’t even look at what is happening here – we are seen as a void…”

He too stresses that despite the documentary’s focus on the north, the subject is much broader and that it not only concerns the whole island but also the region.

“What goes on here influences outside, and what goes outside influences inside,” he insists. “This is very important to understand. If there is destruction in the north, it will affect both sides. So we have to somehow find a way to collaborate. Plus we know that there is a lot of littering here but we also have Egypt dumping their garbage into the sea and Lebanon dumping theirs, and we have the Gaza war, and because of the way the currents work in the Mediterranean, all this rubbish is also being brought to the northern coast. And with climate change, this garbage is turning into little microplastics. And now it’s everywhere, not only in the north but also the south – in our bodies, food, in drinking water. So to fight this, we need collaboration, not just among Cypriots but the whole international community. We need a ‘multiple responsibility’.”

For her part, Hadjigeorgiou dismisses claims that the north’s environmental crises do not influence the situation in the south as delusional. “We have a catastrophic situation regarding the marine life in the north and reports that claim its beaches have the second highest number of microplastics in the world. At the same time, the south says they have the cleanest beaches in Europe. How is it possible?” she asks, noting that “both cannot be true.”

Environmental activist and president of the Famagusta-based NGO Masder, Serdar Atai is even more succinct: “The waste in the north is in the south the next day.”

Apart from tackling the issue of microplastics, the film addresses the relentless quarrying in the Pentadaktylos Mountains and the impact the quarries have on both the natural environment and the health of the local population. It also takes a critical look at a range of related isues such as uncontrollable development in the region of Trikomo, the irreversible concretisation of productive, fertile agricultural land, the lack of a common water policy, the dearth of reliable environmental data, and the fact that there is no proper public debate on these issues. Above all, the documentary laments the absence of even the most basic collaboration between the two sides regarding the whole subject.

Mechanisms are in place that could theoretically address these issues, Hadjigeorgiou points out. “We have the Technical Committee on Environment, a bicommunal body with members from both communities appointed by the leaders. This committee should be doing exactly what we are talking about – identyfing environmental problems and proposing solutions. But somehow, although the committee is active it has not managed to tackle the fundamental problems,” she says.

According to Atai, the reason for this state of affairs is simple. “Members of this committee present some opinions but these opinions have never been taken on at the level of administrations to develop any strategies or determine priorities,” he adds.

Containing a barrage of depressing data and images of damaged mountains, polluted sea, wild fires and ugly skyscrapers in Trikomo, the documentary presents a grim picture for the future.

It has been screened in various venues on both sides of the island. Hatay tells me that everybody who has seen it is shocked and that in the debates that follow the screenings the inevitable question that arises is “what can we do about it”.

Unfortunately, other than the film fulfilling its catalytic function to provoke a reaction and promote discussion, it seems that no viable answers have yet been articulated.

The project, which received €8,000 in funding from the EU, was coordinated by Hatay and took eight months to complete under the direction of Faik Uzuner and Huseyin Dogus Bozkurt.

“We wanted to make sure that there are mostly Turkish Cypriots interviewed in this documentary because we wanted to make sure it is their own voice that is being heard. Also, we wanted to send this message to the international community, that yes, there are experts on the subject in the north and they are willing and well-equipped to talk about it and work on it”.

The PCC and Green Action Group are organising screenings on both sides, and up to now there has been 18 of them in various NGO venues as well as at the University of Cyprus and the Eastern Mediterranean University in Famagusta. The film has also been shown to the island’s diplomatic community.

The north’s ‘education ministry’ recently gave the green light for the film to be shown at its high schools. “Up to now, about 700 students have seen the movie,” says Hatay, who is hopeful a similar screening arrangment can be arrived at with authorities in the south.

Additionally, the film will soon be available online which will allow even more Cypriots to see it.