Civil Society organizations and activists working in ecology and environment have joined a networking and information sharing meeting hosted by the Civic Space on the 16th of December 2021. Among the participants, 12 Turkish Cypriots and 9 Greek Cypriots representing the Cypriot civil society took part in the online meeting. The meeting aimed to debrief the COP 26 meeting and discuss new opportunities to develop potential joint actions.
Cypriot activist Josef Boraei from Avli and Young Friends of the Earth presented the feedback from his participation to the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow in November. 2021. Josef Boraei focused on the main challenges related to COP 26 gathering and the highlights of the Glasgow Agreement. He has also presented the potential implications for the Cyprus context. All participants agreed that Cypriot CSOs need to follow up international mechanisms and develop joint advocacy on different environmental challenges.
The representative of the Cyprus Environment Foundation (CEF), Sofia Matsi, introduced the newly established foundation as an entity raising funds from people and businesses with a solid connection to Cyprus to support environment-based actions. The main objective of the CEF is to provide funding to local Cypriot CSOs that protect and restore the environment and fight against climate change.
During the meeting, Civic Space team presented the new modalities of their Grow Civic program.
The group agreed to pursue the dialogue regularly to strengthen the cooperation between CSOs adressing environmental issues in Cyprus. The Grow Civic program and the CEF support mechanism represent good opportunities to support joint actions. Civic Space can also provide capacity-building activities on environmental policies and legal framework based on civil society needs.
