Press Conference by the General Secretary of AKEL Andros Kyprianou on World Environment Day

AKEL C.C. Press Office, 5^th June 2019, Nicosia

“You can cut down all of the flowers, but you cannot stop the spring”, writes Pablo Neruda.

Unfortunately this year spring came with disastrous floods in Mozambique and in central US states, with horrific snowstorms later on, with record heat increases registered in the Arctic, dust storms and volatile weather conditions in Cyprus. In the end, spring did not stop, but was is destroyed.

This year’s World Environment Day finds us in the midst of a severe climate crisis. The future of the Earth and all living organisms depends on whether we are doing enough to address the climate crisis, whether we are trying to limit its impact, by radically changing the production and consumption of energy, agriculture and forestry, our very priorities and perceptions.

This year’s World Environment Day, however, also offers us hope, given that for the first time in years, thousands of people across Europe are rising up, demanding from governments that they act immediately to protect what is left.

School students who are striking all over the world demanding action on climate change are sending out a very clear message: “We will change the fate of humanity, whether you like it or not”. As far as we are concerned, they will find us marching and struggling with them in their efforts. AKEL will be on the side of the entire environmental movement of Cyprus in this struggle too, as it has always been.

AKEL has as its main priority the well-being and prosperity of people, in a society based on equality. It is the preservation of natural resources and demonstration of the necessary respect towards all forms of life on the planet, within the framework of a sustainable ecological balance. This is also the fundamental difference as regards AKEL’s positions, from those who interpret terms discretionally, that knowingly or unconsciously, ignore the root of the problem and restrict themselves to individualistic activist-type approaches.

Regretfully, we are observing the Anastasiades-DISY government ignoring on a day-to-day basis the need for immediate environmental measures to be taken, but not only that. We see permits being approved for the construction of buildings in areas of maximum environmental protection, golf courses, hotels and projects without the necessary environmental studies being carried out. AKEL considers that growth doesn’t only mean economic, but also social and cultural development. It means enhancing people’s quality of life. It means not only protection, but also the improvement and development of the environment in all areas.

At this critical time for our species and planet, as AKEL, we are determined to inform citizens about the threats stemming from and the consequences of climate change and propose feasible solutions, taking of course into account that phenomena can only be mitigated and not neutralized.

We assure the citizens of Cyprus that we are not going to remain mere spectators, waiting others to decide that climate change is a crisis of critical importance. We must and will demand a real plan is elaborated to rescue the planet. We must and will demand that the rich countries and the European Union must respond with the allocation of resources, but principally through the abolition of free market rules, that have proved so flexible when the interests of the elites are at stake.

To do this, a lot of pressure needs to be exerted and mobilizations organized by society itself and citizens. AKEL is not going to simply participate in this struggle. It is ready, in cooperation with our country’s environmental movements and local organizations, to discuss and jointly formulate proposals and promote actions in this direction.

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