You have to be brave to be a birdwoman
Being responsible for the safety of Cyprus’ birds means as much time in the office as the field
‘Protecting the environment is to everyone’s interest’
Birdlife Cyprus was established in 2003 with the merger of two Cyprus Ornithological Societies and the RSPB with the aim of protecting and studying the habitats and birds of Cyprus. Dr. Iris Charalambidou returned from a research position in the Netherlands and twenty years out of Cyprus to run it.
Since childhood, Iris, has always loved the environment and being outdoors. She remembers long, hot summers spent in a village in Yialousa, when she would spend hours watching lizards bask on walls and watching the birds of Cyprus weave across the sky.
Her journey to her present job, has taken her around the world. As an undergraduate biologist in Greece she tracked brown bears on the Bulgarian borders and camped out alone in the forest, studying terns. In her twenties her sitting room became the fledgling bird hospital of Aegina, as she helped save shot buzzards. In Wales, while studying for a Masters in Ecology, she worked as a nature warden and found herself chasing egg collectors.
Iris is a woman of action but she is also a woman of science. Facts and accuracy about what is actually happening to the environment are essential, she believes, to good conservation.
Iris works an eight to nine hour day, admitting it could easily become a 24-hour day; she has to force herself to take time out but even then she laughs she bores her friends with ecology. She was the first person hired at Birdlife, which now has a paid staff of six and much of her first two years has been about establishing relations with all the key stakeholders in the conservation movement in Cyprus. It has not always been easy, but she is learning how, as a single woman, to make her voice heard, to be persistent and fight her corner.
Her day starts at around 8am on the computer, reading emails, writing letters, proof-reading copy, keeping up-to-date with world events and responding to often sensitive information about illegal activity in Cyprus. Unlike many countries in northern Europe, bird conservation is still a very political issue. The illegal trapping of wild birds for the pot still happens in Cyprus and letters and information about this arrive at the Birdlife office. Challenging vested interest is always difficult. As with hunting in the UK, when the law changes people are reluctant to give up the habits of lifetime. Those parts of their life which they feel are traditional and enriching, even if they are unacceptable.
With hunters making thousands of pounds from their catch and greenfinches, robins and blackcaps being sold for £2 each, Iris finds much of her day is spent in discussion with the relevant authorities and police on how to enforce EU legislation. Working towards a consistent and monitored environmental policy is one of her main aims. She is delighted that the Minister of the Interior is supporting an intiative to coordinate integrated, island-wide legislation to combat illegal trapping.
Getting the message across means that often Iris’ day will be filled with meetings and discussions. It is a frustration the response to environmental needs is painstakingly slow but there have been some success stories. The griffon vulture, whose numbers have declined so drastically in Cyprus almost to the point of extinction is now being protected by a National Action Plan. It may be too late to save breeding couples but they are looking at a reintroduction programme.
Lunches will be in-house, reading reports, discussing issues, looking at ways of maximising their impact. The recently revamped magazine Birdlife Cyprus was launched this summer: now Iris is working on how to encourage membership and reach a wider audience. She is working on improving their website, which advertises the numerous walks and activities from birdwatching trips to Evretou Dam to helping in the International Waterbird count.
Occasionally her day will be interupted by an emergency, as when a number of flamingoes were illegally shot in Larnaca. Getting photographic evidence is always paramount.
“Protecting the environment is to everyone’s interest,” she argues. Much of her day now is spent on work to establish bird sanctuaries, places of safety where birds can be enjoyed and observed but can also breed and migrate in peace. Cyprus has an invaluable place in the ecological map as a stepping stone for rare and endangered migratory birds: it is also the only country in Europe that officially has endemic species; birds found here and nowhere else.
Iris’ passion for her subject is infectious, she enthuses about getting out her binoculars and taking off to the wetlands to watch migrating ospreys. The downside to her day is the awareness that the message she and her colleagues are telling is not always popular. She admits she sometimes feels vulnerable but she is learning how to be tough. You have to be brave to be a birdwoman in Cyprus and she is.
www.birdlifecyprus.org
