Village action offers grassroots response to climate change

By Martin Clark

Despite the troubled world we live in and the dominance of the politics of oil, there is now little doubt that climate change is happening. In Cyprus, we are on the front line, as drying conditions and rising temperatures are increasingly apparent.

Cyprus forms part of the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East (EMME) region, one of 24 countries with around 400 million inhabitants that is fast becoming a climate change hotspot.

The Cyprus Institute has been working with German and Finnish researchers, through the EU ‘Horizon Europe’ programme. Their “Climate Change and Impact” report is pretty frightening. Getting hotter, drier, dustier.

What can we do about it?

In the mountain villages of rural Larnaca district, especially Kato Drys and Pano Lefkara, communities are starting to take action. The idea of ‘bottom-up’ community work is not new to ethnically Greek people; after all, the Eastern Mediterranean is where democracy started.

Here is a reminder “Democracy is a system of government where power is vested in the people, exercised either directly or through freely elected representatives. Originating from the Greek terms for “people” and “rule,” it emphasizes equality, majority rule, individual rights and the rule of law.

It promotes political stability, accountability and the protection of civil liberties.

Key elements of a functioning democracy include ‘citizen participation’: The right and responsibility of citizens to participate in political life, including voting, campaigning and freedom of expression.

In Pano Lefkara, this spirit has taken shape through a Socrates Café group, supported by Andreas Shoshilos, former mayor of Lefkara, who leads the Cultural Association and represents the Cyprus Greens.

The group’s secretary, Stas Balaur, invites residents every Wednesday evening to meet either at House 1923 coffee shop or the Mola Culture Factory, both welcoming community spaces.

These gatherings are not about philosophy in the abstract or finding the “right answers”. They focus on real, everyday questions that matter, issues people often reflect on privately but hesitate to discuss openly. Each meeting begins with a single question. There are no experts and no lectures. Everyone participates as equals, listening with curiosity rather than debating to win.

The goal is understanding, not conclusions.

“Climate change” is a question that matters. The model is spreading, and it is worth stressing that anyone living in Cyprus is welcome to take part; participation is not limited to those born on the island. One of the European Union’s core principles is free movement, coupled with shared problem-solving across borders.

For me, as a participant in the Socrates Café, the next step is turning dialogue into action and bringing community ideas to the municipal level. This is already happening in neighbouring Kato Drys, where the Community Council not only listens but acts.

Tree planting currently sits high on the agenda. Trees, when planted in the right places, provide shade and shelter, reduce ground temperatures, store carbon and absorb heat.

Through evapotranspiration, woodlands and forests release water vapour into the atmosphere, helping cloud formation and rainfall. Even Mediterranean ‘maquis’ forests can increase local rainfall by nearly 10 per cent.

The village of Kato Drys has some wonderful chapels and churches. One of them is dedicated to Saint Neophytos, who was born in Kato Drys, lived in Pano Lefkara at some point and lived an ascetic life at Tala near Paphos. 

Some rather imposing steps have been installed climbing up to the chapel.  Recently, discussions with Community Council president Nikos Vasiliou and EU projects officer Panayiota Demetriou led to agreement on a community tree-planting plan around the chapel.

Two rows of Mediterranean cypress (Cupressus sempervirens) will line the steps, forming an avenue. The species is native to the eastern Mediterranean, well adapted to drought and poor soils, and symbolically associated in Cypriot culture with longevity.

They will make the steps into an avenue.

Symbolically, to Cypriots, they represent ‘long life’.

Lower down the slope, oak trees will be planted in a zone where they can grow tall without obscuring the chapel.

The village’s name, Kato Drys, meaning “lower oaks”, hints at a landscape once dominated by Aleppo oaks (Quercus infectoria). A few still remain, and acorns are collected locally to grow new seedlings.

Oaks trees are biodiversity powerhouses supporting (Europe-wide) over 2,300 species of wildlife, including 1,178 invertebrates and 31 mammal species (not too many of the latter in Cyprus).

They act as crucial, long-lived keystone species providing food, shelter and breeding sites for fungi, lichens, birds and insects.

The upper section of the hill will be reserved for smaller trees and shrubs to frame, rather than hide, the chapel. We chose Palestine oak (Quercus coccifera – a shrub), bitter almond (Prunus amygdalus var. amara), a toxic, wild variety of almond containing amygdalin; it is a very strong survivor and later, eating almond varieties can be grafted onto the rootstock, Turpentine tree (pistacia terebinthus), the seeds are used by the village baker, Lyghia Nicolau, and Mosfillo (Crataegus azarolus), the fruit of which is used by villagers to make marmalade.

Kato Drys is fortunate to have local expertise, including Iakovos Korniotis, a recognised authority on almond trees who even has a variety named after him!

All species choices are guided by culture, ecology and climate resilience. In response to the Cyprus Institute’s bleak projections for the Eastern Mediterranean, Kato Drys, together with partner villages across Europe, is developing an action plan titled “Communities Coping with Climate Change”.

Such coping begins with bottom-up dialogue, and that is where the Socrates Café plays its role.

Tree planting as a community activity is ‘win, win’ if we follow some basic rules.

• Make sure irrigation is possible, preferably with non-potable water.

• Avoid south facing slopes, they have the wrong ‘aspect’ and get too hot and dry for dominant trees, leave them for naturally occurring ‘maquis’ forest shrubs.

• Choose native species as they are more able to cope with heat and drought.

• Do not choose tropical trees from irresponsible garden centres, in Cyprus we do not have enough water for them.

• Respect the rules of altitude – horizontal zonation is important in Cyprus – for example, Palestine oak, a shrubby variety is okay below 500 metres, between 500 and 1,000 metres, Aleppo oak is good, 700 to 1,800 metres (top of Troodos), the endemic Golden oak is good. Strawberry tree is likewise at higher altitudes.

• We recommend avoiding the Calabrian pine (Pinus brutea) because even mature trees are dying from drought, it casts its needles heavily, causing a fire hazard and it is attacked by the hairy and poisonous pine processionary moth caterpillar; Stone pine (Pinus pinea) is a better choice. Cypress trees better still.

• In Cyprus we have lots of food culture trees, they are a good choice: wild almond, wild olive, wild carob, mosfilo, turpentine tree, shinos, all have a use in cooking. The wild varieties of almond, olive and carob can be the rootstock for more productive varieties to be grafted on.

Tree planting, carried out thoughtfully and collectively, is a simple but powerful starting point. This February, that work will continue in Kato Drys.

Martin David Clark is a former advisor on forestry to the UK government and the Royal Forestry Society and was once Head of the UK’s National School of Forestry. Retiring three years ago, he is a permanent resident in Cyprus but is still active in rural development and training. He is the Director of Grampus Heritage, which ran the UK’s largest vocational and adult education EU training programme in more than 15 countries. In Cyprus he has worked with the Forestry Department and the Cyprus Forestry College since 1996