Akamas Peninsula Case-Study – Workshop on Conservation, Management & Governance of Protected Areas

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Nature is our Home, Communities are our Family“.

This was the motto of the interactive and participatory Workshop, which took place on 23 to 25 November 2022, at Drousha Heights Hotel, in Akamas – Cyprus.
The Workshop was organized by the Cyprus Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment (MARDE) and its Department of Environment (DoE), in the frame of the project “Management of the NATURA 2000 Protected Area – Akamas Peninsula”, which is co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund and the Republic of Cyprus.

The scope of the Workshop was the Presentation, dissemination and discussion of international experiences, good practices and successful examples related to the integrated management of protected areas, and the discussion of their application in Cyprus and specifically in the case of the Akamas Peninsula.

The Workshop was organized in a multifaceted manner, comprising:

  • first half of Day-1 (23 November), with background-providing sessions of introductory presentations by the relevant competent Departments of the Cypriot Government (Department of Environment, Department of Forests, Department of Fisheries & Marine Research, Game & Fauna Service) and contributions/ statements by Representatives of Local Communities/ Stakeholders/ Society.
  • second half of Day-1 with on-site Field Visit in the Akamas Peninsula.

  • full Day-2 (24 November) with experience-sharing presentations by International Guest Experts with extensive and broad experience in a wide range of Protected Areas management issues, from International Organisations, such as World Bank, International Union of Nature Conservation (IUNC), Europark Federation, etc., as well as Managers of Protected Areas/ National Parks: Jim Barborak, Tarek Abulhawa, Urvashi Narain, Neil McIntosh, Andrej Sovinc, Bertrand de Montmollin, Thiago Beraldo, Panayiotis Dimopoulos, Francesco Marchese, Emanuele Raso, Kazimir Miculinić, José Juan Chans Pousada.
  • first half of Day-3 (25 November) with three highly interactive Parallel Sessions of participatory discussions amongst All Stakeholders; Government Departments, Local Communities, Land Owners, Environmental and other Scientists, NGOs and Associations of Civic Society, which were moderated and facilitated by the International Guest Experts. The three Parallel Sessions were on: “Governance and Management in Akamas”, “Sustainable Tourism in Akamas”, and “Empowerment of Local Stakeholders in Akamas”.

  • second half of Day-3 with presence and contribution by the MARDE Minister, Prof. Costas Kadis, with additional contributions by Representatives of Local Stakeholders, NGOs and Civic Society Associations, as well as Summarizing Key-Messages by the Chairs and Rapporteurs of the Parallel Sessions back to the Plenary, and Final Key Take-Home-Messages and Overview-of-Achievements of the Workshop.

CERIDES / EUC was engaged in the deliberations and discourses at the most active level, as the Main Facilitator – Moderator of the overall Workshop was CERIDES’ Research-&-Strategy Manager, Mr. Pierantonios Papazoglou; an Environmental Scientist and Environmental Engineer himself, with concrete experience in Moderation/ Facilitation and International Cooperation, as well as in Capacity Building and Vocational Training.

 

CERIDES is actively engaged in research and acitivities relating to Climate Change, Sustainability, Adaptation, Green Capacity Building, Green Education, Environmental Management, as per the following: