AKEL on World Environment Day 2023

 

5 June 2023, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia

World Environment Day finds the world and our island in a state of emergency. The climate and energy crisis is a fact.

Greenhouse gas emissions continue to increase, global temperatures continue to rise and our planet is fast approaching tipping points that will make climate chaos irreversible. Ongoing wars, natural disasters, price increases and expensiveness, poverty and the deterioration of people’s quality of life, as well as the energy crisis, are not unconnected to the issues of the environment and climate crisis. The extremes conditions associated with climate change are becoming more frequent as time goes by and their effects are becoming increasingly evident in the form of heat waves, floods, droughts and storms.

In Cyprus, as an Eastern Mediterranean country, the phenomena are even more acute with dust storms and showers. Over the last decade in Cyprus, the environment in all its forms has been sacrificed repeatedly to serve the interests of big private capital. Furthermore, the absence of energy planning translates into unbearable electricity costs for households. The lack of proper traffic planning harms both our atmosphere and health. Nikos Christodoulides submitted 57 proposals for the environment, the planet and Cyprus during the election campaign. Five months later we are still waiting for the first one.

World Environment Day reminds us that the road ahead is long and there is much to be done. AKEL’s proposal is for a radical and innovative response to the emergency we face. We are ready to contribute in every way, both inside and outside Parliament, towards this end.

Our country needs policies that aim to restore the ecosystem, protect the environment, and ensure environmental and social justice.