On 11 and 12 October 2025, in the Kyperounta community on the Troodos-mountainous-area of the Limassol District in Cyprus, with the lead of CERIDES’ Resilience-Ambassador Mrs. Klelia Vasiliou, we conducted ResAlliance activities at the local Farmer-sector-related famous Kyperounta Apple Festival.
Our participation in the Apple Festival in Kyperounta was within the context of ResAlliance‘s Cyprus-LandLab Showroom and Info-Session activities (project’s Task 4.2 and 4.3), to ensure maximum outreach and engagement of farmers and foresters and related stakeholders with practical selected best practices, project knowledge and solutions on landscape resilience, and networking of the LandNet.
We were delighted to participate once again this year in the Apple Festival in Kyperounta, as this is a vibrant community that consistently proves to be a hub of productivity and collaboration, full of people who work with passion and dedication for their land, their fellow farmers, and the broader agricultural sector in Cyprus. As such, CERIDES sincerely thanks the organizers for both the invitation and their warm hospitality, which gave us the opportunity to present, in the form of ResAlliance Showroom and Info-Session, the best practices developed through our ResAlliance project. Warm thanks go to the President of the Kyperounta Youth Center, Mr. Michalis Eleftheriou, for the excellent organization and dedicated work, as well as to the Community Leader, Mr. Michalis Hadjimichael, and the members of the Community Council for their generous hospitality.
With over 15,000 visitors attending the festival, we had the invaluable opportunity to engage in discussions, share knowledge, and better understand how both locals and visitors perceive the challenges and opportunities around land resilience and the sustainable practices that can offer real solutions to the many issues faced by our region. Unsurprisingly, the conversation was largely centered around the pressing need for vegetation management and wildfire prevention — and how controlled burning and managed grazing (by goats and horses) can contribute to a more resilient future for our rural and forested areas.
Our specially designed Showroom-exhibition-space was visited and engaged by:
- the Honorable Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and the Environment (MARDE), Dr. Maria Panayiotou,
- the Commissioner for Mountain Communities, Mr. Charalambos Christofinas,
- the Director General of MARDE, Mr. Andreas Grigoriou,
- officials from the Department of Environment, Forestry Department, and Civil Defence,
- Members of Parliament, representatives of agricultural organizations,
- forest-firefighters, farmers, producers, and local residents.
We look forward to returning next year — with health, inspiration, and continued collaboration!
ResAlliance is an EU-funded project by the European Commission, under Horizon Europe CL6-GOVERNANCE Grant-Agreement no. 101086600.