Cyprus ‘committed to improving the environment’

IMPROVING the environment must start at home, Agriculture Minister Costas Themistocleous said on the occasion of ‘World Earth Day’ yesterday.

The first Earth Day took place in the US in 1970, with the aim of motivating people to take action to prevent damage to the environment. It is now celebrated all over the world.

The European Union’s laws on environmental protection cover a wide range of issues and provide specific details on how each member country should behave. Themistocleous said Cyprus has committed itself to falling in line with EU requirements by January 1, 2003.

He said that 2000 signalled the start of an intensive three-year programme to cover the majority of Cyprus’ EU obligations.

He also said that £600 million would be spent on environmental aid projects over the next decade, “not just as part of our obligation to the EU but as an unavoidable debt to society”.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.