06 ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION FOR PRINT.qxp_Layout 1 18/11/2019 2:42 PM Page 1 Environmental The environment is considered to be an element which holds an enhanced peace- protection and building potential as well as potential to exacerbate conflict. It has thus become cooperation in an an important topic in the international conflict and peacebuilding agenda, with intergovernmental organisations and civil society actors, including environmental (ethnically) divided NGOs, and research and advocacy institutes, working on issues that are at the island: The case interface of environment, peace-building and security. This PCC report revisits the of Cyprus concept of the environment and its peace-building potential through historical learning on the island of Cyprus and aims at finding sustainable linkages that can REPORT PCC Maria Hadjimichael assist in environmental protection and foster meaningful cooperation across the Klitos Papastylianou divide. Starting from 1998, this report explores various ways environmental | cooperation ensued on the island and attempts to comprehend how cooperation 6/2019 has failed or succeeded at different levels (from official administration levels to | ENGOs and the civil society). Henceforth, a number of proposals are put forward, case of Cyprus The in an (ethnically) divided island: and cooperation protection Environmental such as a peace park in the Buffer Zone, a network of Natura 2000 sites and Biosphere Reserves across the island, a bicommunal ecological studies centre in a remote wilderness area within the Buffer Zone, as well as an ecological online platform as a communication tool for those interested to collaborate, or exchange information on environmental matters. It is suggested that the more long-term, sustainable possibilities of the peace-building potential of the environment can be realised from those who embrace their actions as explicitly political, and who seem capable of creating stronger linkages towards a sustainable solution to the Cyprus Issue. ISBN 978-82-343-0034-9 (print) PCC REPORT 6/2019 The report can be ordered from: PRIO Cyprus Centre P.O.Box 25157, 1307 Nicosia, Cyprus Tel: +357 22 456555/4 [email protected] 06 ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION FOR PRINT.qxp_Layout 1 18/11/2019 2:42 PM Page 2 About the Authors Maria Hadjimichael (PhD) is a Research Fellow at the University of Cyprus and the vice-chair of the European funded COST Action OceanGov (Ocean Governance for Sustainability - Challenges, Options and the Role of Science; 2016-2020). She has an interdisciplinary background (BSc Natural Environmental Sciences, University of Sheffield & MSc in Marine Environmental Protection, Bangor University) and a PhD in Fisheries Governance from Bangor University with a thesis titled ‘The Human Dimension of the European Fisheries Governance: the North/South Divide’ (2011). During the past 8 years, she has been conducting research in the fields of Political Ecology and the Governance of the Commons as well as Environmental Politics, with a focus on the ocean and the seashore. She has completed a blue book stagiaire internship with the European Commission’s Directorate General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (2011-12) and a postdoc with the Innovative Fisheries Management institute in Aalborg University, Denmark, during which she led and took part in various interdisciplinary ocean governance FP7 projects. Her current work explores the hidden potential embedded in common heritage concrete buildings in Cyprus. Hadjimichael has also been engaged with several informal citizens’ initiatives in the fields of environmental protection, sustainable development, human rights, social justice, peace, and reconciliation and has gained an in-depth understanding of the environmental and natural resources policies in Cyprus, in both sides of the divide. She has co-authored numerous academic papers as well as policy reports and policy briefs with a focus on European as well as national environmental and natural resource issues. Klitos Papastylianou holds a BA in Political Science and History from Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences in Athens, and an MSc in Environmental Social Science from the School of Social Policy, Sociology, and Social Research of the University of Kent in Canterbury. During his postgraduate studies, he was also an independent researcher in the framework of the European Research ‘Transformation of Environmental Activism’ (TEA) Project and a temporary member of the Research Review Committee of the International Journal Environmental Politics on a ‘Themed Issue on Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and Environmental Movements’. His studies and research have focused on the comparative study and analysis of social move- ments, civil society, non-governmental organizations, and policy networks, with an interest on environmental movements, organisations, campaigns, and networks. During the past 15 years, he has had extensive professional experience in NGOs, as well as voluntarily engagement with several informal citizens’ initiatives, active in the fields of environmental protection, sustainable development, human rights, social justice, peace, and reconciliation. In Cyprus in particular, he has worked as a campaign coordinator and a policy adviser for local and international environmental NGOs, as well as an advocacy and communication officer for human rights and social justice NGOs. Through his work and research over the past 10 years, he has gained an in-depth understanding of the environmental and natural resources policies The report can be ordered from: in Cyprus, in both sides of the divide. In 2018, he was awarded (Politico EU 28, Class of 2018 PRIO Cyprus Centre & Commonwealth Points of Light, Cyprus 2018) for his significant contribution in nature P.O.Box 25157, 1307 Nicosia, Cyprus conservation and environmental protection campaigns in Cyprus. Tel: +357 22 456555/4 [email protected] ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AND COOPERATION IN AN (ETHNICALLY) DIVIDED ISLAND: THE CASE OF CYPRUS Maria Hadjimichael Klitos Papastylianou Report 6/2019 Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) Hausmanns gate 7 PO Box 9229 Oslo NO-0134 OSLO, Norway Tel. +47 22 54 77 00 Fax +47 22 54 77 01 Email: [email protected] Web: www.prio.no PRIO encourages its researchers and research affiliates to publish their work in peer-reviewed journals and book series, as well as in PRIO’s own Report, Paper and Policy Brief series. In editing these series, we undertake a basic quality control, but PRIO does not as such have any view on political issues. We encourage our researchers actively to take part in public debates and give them full freedom of opinion. The responsibility and honour for the hypotheses, theories, findings and views expressed in our publications thus rests with the authors themselves. © Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), 2019 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or utilised in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without permission in writing from the copyright holder(s). ISBN 978-82-7288-984-4 (online) ISBN 978-82-343-0034-9 (print) Cover photo: Pavlos Vrionides Production and Cover design: Crystal Graphics CONTENTS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................................................ 3 LIST OF FIGURES............................................................................................................................................ 5 INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................................. 7 Contested and hidden environmental narratives in Cyprus: the Case of quarrying ........................................................................................................................... 7 nature knows no boundaries?....................................................................................................... 14 DESK STUDY ................................................................................................................................................. 17 environment, ConfliCt and peaCe-building ............................................................................ 17 peaCe parks ................................................................................................................................................. 20 buffer Zones.............................................................................................................................................. 23 EXPLORING ENVIRONMENTAL COOPERATION ON THE ISLAND OF CYPRUS....................... 25 researCh methods ................................................................................................................................. 25 politiCal asymmetries and environmental proteCtion: geographiCal, administrative and legal separation........................................................ 25 geographiCal level.......................................................................................................................... 25 administrative level........................................................................................................................ 27 legal level............................................................................................................................................. 28 the Case of nature Conservation...........................................................................................