navigating the paradigm shift

7/28/2019 Navigating the paradigm shift

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/navigating-the-paradigm-shift 1/104

Navigating the Paradigm ShitChallenges and opportunities or the two communities o Cyprus, in the search or sustainable patterns o economic

and social development

A REPORT BY THE

CYPRUS 015 INITIATIVE



Published by: Interpeace / «Cyprus » Initiative

© Interpeace and «Cyprus » Initiative,

All rights reserved

The views expressed in this publication are those o the key stakeholders consulted and do not necessarily represent those o the sponsors.

Reproduction o gures or short excerpts rom this report is authorized ree o charge and without ormal written permission provided that the originalsource is properly acknowledged, with mention o the complete name o the report, the publisher and the numbering o the page (s) or the gure (s).Permission can only be granted to use the material exactly as it is in the report. Please be aware that gures cannot be altered in any way, including the

ull legend. For media use it is sucient to cite the source while using the original graphic or gure.

Solar Panels cover image courtesy o Abengoa Solar

This report has been prepared through a collaborative and participatory process which included numerous stakeholders rom both communities o Cyprus. The ollowing is a non-exhaustive list o individuals who, in varying capacities, contributed to the development o the report:

Cyprus 2015 Initiative, Sustainable Development Lead Authors:

Alexandros Lordos, Sertaç Sonan, George Ioulianos

Cyprus 2015 Initiative, Executive Committee:

Spyros Christou, Ahmet Sözen, Alexandros Lordos, Erol Kaymak

Translation:Natasa Andreou, İlke Dağlı

Sustainable Development Stakeholder Panel, Energy Working Group:

Serkan Abbasoğlu, Akın Akı, Samet Biricik, Costas Christodes, George Georgiou, İbrahim Karabardak, Ali Korakan, George Lordos, Ayşe Tokel, Korkut Zerey

Sustainable Development Stakeholder Panel, Water Working Group:

Sami Dayıoğlu, Salih Gücel, Kyriakos Kyrou, Michalis Loizides, Sibel Paralik, Spyros Steanou, Demetris Vattis

Sustainable Development Stakeholder Panel, Construction Working Group:Ceren Boğac, Ayça Soygür Çıralı, Hasip Erel, Ercan Hoşkara, Giannis Ioannou, Andreas Lordos, Marina Neophytou, Hıvsiye Öztoprak, Panikos Palochis, YalınSayı, Hasan Sungur, Layık Topcan

Sustainable Development Stakeholder Panel, Mobility Working Group:

Selen Abbasoğlu, Taner Aksu, Anna Caramondani, Mehmet Metin Kunt, Michalis Lambrinos, Kyriakos Mouskos, Ali Öznur, Aristotelis Savva, Özge Sener,

Constantinos Tringides

All members o the Sustainable Development Stakeholder Panel participated in their personal capacities, and it is understood that any views expressedduring the meetings were their own and not necessarily o any organisations or authorities that they otherwise represent. While the recommendationscontained in this report can be said to reect the broad consensus o the Sustainable Development Stakeholder Panel and its Working Groups, suchrecommendations should not be ascribed to, or identied with, any specic participant.



Τable o Contents

Preace

Introduction to the Concept o Sustainable Development

PART I: ENERGY SUSTAINABILITY

. Global Trends in Energy Sustainability

.. Supply Side: Alternative Energy Sources

.. Demand Side: Conservation and Eciency

. European Policies or Energy Sustainability

.. An Energy Policy or Europe

.. Investing in the Development o Low-Carbon Technologies – SET Plan

. Energy Sustainability: Current Situation in the Greek Cypriot Community

.. Energy Authorities o the Republic o Cyprus

.. Conventional sources o energy

.. Development o Renewable Energy Sources

. Energy Sustainability: Current Situation in the Turkish Cypriot Community

. Energy Sustainability: Future Directions or Cyprus

.. An issue o averting climate change or securing energy supplies?

.. Developing an island-wide energy strategy

.. Building condence in peace through energy co-operation

PART II: WATER SUSTAINABILITY

. Global Trends in Water Sustainability

.. Sustainable Water Management

.. Possible Remedies

. European Policies or Water Sustainability

.. Water Framework Directive

. Water Sustainability: Current Situation in the Greek Cypriot Community

.. Current Desalination Practices

.. Solar-thermal desalination parks

.. Recycled water

.. Meeting EU directives

.. Water consumption

.. Agriculture

. Water Sustainability: Current Situation in the Turkish Cypriot Community

.. State o the Water Resources

.. Dams

.. Wastewater Treatment

.. Importing Water

. Water Sustainability: Future Directions or Cyprus

.. Finding the right balance in agriculture

.. Towards an integrated water management system

.. Resolving the problem o boreholes

.. Towards sustainable water supplies

.. Highlighting the challenge o desertication



PART III: SUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION

. Global Trends in Sustainable Construction

.. Economic, Social and Environmental Efects o the Construction Sector

.. Construction within the ramework o Sustainable Development

. European Policies or Sustainable Construction .. Energy Perormance o Buildings

.. Energy end-use eciency and energy services

.. Energy Eciency Action Plan

.. Green Paper on Integrated Product Policy (IPP)

.. Construction, Demolition and Excavation Waste

.. Policy on Green Public Procurement

.. Other directives

. Sustainable Construction: Current Situation in the Greek Cypriot Community

.. Energy eciency

.. Use o «green» materials

.. Other issues related to sustainable construction .. Public sector and sustainable construction

.. Current obstacles to sustainable construction

. Sustainable Construction: Current Situation in the Turkish Cypriot Community

. Sustainable Construction: Future Directions or Cyprus

.. Creating incentives or sustainable construction

.. Increasing awareness o available sustainable construction practices

.. Urban-level pilot projects

PART IV: SUSTAINABLE MOBILITY

. Global Trends in Sustainable Mobility

.. Global Mobility Challenges

.. What is sustainable transportation/mobility? .. Possible Remedies

.. London: A Successul Case

. European Policies or Sustainable Mobility

.. Promotion o the use o biouels or other renewable uels or transport

.. Greening Transport Package

.. Getting the prices right

.. Green Paper: Towards a new culture or urban mobility

. Sustainable Mobility: Current Situation in the Greek Cypriot Community

.. Public transportation

.. Environmental protection

. Sustainable Mobility: Current Situation in the Turkish Cypriot Community

.. Public Transportation

.. Increasing Number o Private Cars

.. Air Pollution

.. Road Saety

.. Walking and Cycling

. Sustainable Mobility: Future Directions or Cyprus

.. Accepting sustainable mobility as a social good

.. Moving beyond the private car culture: Some alternative means

to achieve mobility

.. Enhancing mobility to increase contact between the two communities

.. Designing the uture o mobility together

PART V: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

. Catching up with the global Paradigm Shit: Some critical priorities

. Towards a Sustainable Development Master Plan or Cyprus


http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/navigating-the-paradigm-shift 5/104PREFACE 5

Preace

Cyprus is a peace-building initiative which aims to complement the ongoing peace

process by exploring broader societal issues that are directly or indirectly linked with the

eforts to achieve lasting peace in Cyprus. The stated purpose o the Cyprus Initiative is

to contribute towards a creative and constructive social debate or the long-term sustainable

uture o Cyprus, while the methodological ramework it utilizes towards this end can best be

described as participatory action research – in which research and dialogue come together,

in the service o socially desirable change.

Ater consulting with societal stakeholders on both sides o the Green line, and reviewing therelevant literature, our sub-topics were identied to be covered by our report on sustainable

development in Cyprus: Namely issues o energy, water, construction and transportation/

mobility. What we have sought to achieve through this research process, beyond the desk

research itsel, is to bring together stakeholders rom both communities to identiy, where

possible, common visions in the orm o policy recommendations in the selected areas; and

where this cannot be achieved, to prepare an agenda o issues that require urther societal

dialogue.

In the Global Trends sections o our report, we aimed to identiy global challenges in the sub-

topics concerned, and to discuss diferent ways the rest o the world deals with the challenges

o sustainable development with a view to raise awareness within the Cypriot society. Together

with the EU Policies sections, the Global Trends sections constitute a benchmark; the ideal/

best practices we strive to reach rom where we stand at the moment, which is taken up in

the Current Situation sections o the report. Based on this analysis, community stakeholders

have engaged in a process o dialogue and participatory action research to identiy potential

uture directions or Cyprus.

This report is intended to be used as a versatile policy resource or decision makers in the

two communities, whether these are policy makers, businesspeople, researchers, or civil

society activists. As such, it is acknowledged that diferent groups o readers will be interested

in diferent aspects o the report: As an exploration o some key challenges or sustainabledevelopment in Cyprus, this report will serve to some practitioners as a window into the current

realities acing the other community, while or others the report will serve as a window into

current global best practices, or EU policies, in matters related to sustainable development.

Some readers may only be interested in Energy related issues, while others may have an

interest in Water, Construction or Mobility. In acknowledgment o these difering needs and

priorities o readers, this report is structured in a modular ashion wherein readers can ocus

on the themes or topics which specically interest them, thus drawing the maximum benet

rom the report while eciently utilizing time.

Others still, it is hoped, will draw on the ‘uture directions’ sections o the report in their search

or new and creative approaches or solving some o the long-standing sustainability-related

challenges acing Cyprus. As an exploration o the added-value that island-wide solutions

can bring to key sustainable development challenges, this report can serve as an invitation to

stakeholders and policy-makers to engage in collaborative processes that not only enhance


http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/navigating-the-paradigm-shift 6/1046 NAVIGATING THE PARADIGM SHIFT

the eciency o the technical response, but become milestones in the development o inter-

communal trust, thereore contributing to the peace process.

Further to the participants and contributors cited in the ront ap, we also wish to thank the

ollowing or making possible the preparation o this report: Bernardo Arévalo de León and

Enrique Sánchez o the Joint Programme Unit or UN/Interpeace Initiatives, or their patient

supervision and guidance o the participatory process in accordance with international best

practices; The United Nations Development Programme “Action or Cooperation and Trust”

or supporting and unding this wide reaching and multi-aceted year-long efort. More

specically rom UNDP, we wish to thank Jaco Cilliers, Christopher Louise, Nicholas Jarraud,

John Lewis, Tzvetan Zarov, Pembe Mentesh, and Michalis Michail, or their consistent support

o the Cyprus Initiative and their invaluable eedback to the drat versions o the report;

The European Commission Representation in Cyprus, more specically Androulla Kaminara,

Leteris Eletheriou and Peter Sandor, or the time and efort they invested in supporting the

Cyprus Initiative and or the Representation’s nancial contribution towards covering our

printing costs; and nally we wish to thank the numerous policy makers, ocials, academics,

experts, and proessionals rom both communities who agreed to be interviewed thus adding

substance and relevance to this report.


http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/navigating-the-paradigm-shift 7/104INTRODUCTION TO THE CONCEPT OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 7

Introduction to the

Concept o SustainableDevelopment

Although the issue o the long-run ecological sustainability o human society has deep and

diverse historical roots, it was clearly articulated and stated as an international and national

policy agenda only by late s and early s.1 Connors and Dovers consider the broadestmaniestation o this policy agenda, which has come to be known as sustainable development,

as ‘the most proound intellectual and political agenda acing human society today’.

The World Commission on Environment and Development, which is also known as the

Brundtland Commission, has introduced the concept o sustainable development to a wider

audience in . The Commission’s report, Our Common Future, launched this ‘big new

idea,’ ‘which brought environmentalism into poverty reduction and poverty reduction into

environmentalism in a neat and simple ormula’. The report raised the awareness on the issue,

and ‘led to the rst Earth Summit - the UN Conerence on Environment and Development -

at Rio de Janeiro in , and to the ormulation o Agenda , an internationally accepted

“blueprint or survival” o its day’. 3

The commission was tasked by the General Assembly o the United Nations in

• ‘to propose long-term environmental strategies or achieving sustainable development by

the year and beyond;

• to recommend ways, so that concern or the environment may be translated into greater

co-operation among countries o the global South and between countries at diferent

stages o economical and social development and lead to the achievement o common

and mutually supportive objectives that take account o the interrelationships between

people, resources, environment, and development;• to consider ways and means by which the international community can deal more

efectively with environment concerns; and

• to help dene shared perceptions o long-term environmental issues and the appropriate

eforts needed to deal successully with the problems o protecting and enhancing the

environment, a long term agenda or action during the coming decades, and aspirational

goals or the world community’.

The report, which has attained the status o a classic and a benchmark in the relevant

literature, denes sustainable development as ‘development that meets the needs o the

present without compromising the ability o uture generations to meet their own needs.

1 Robin Connor and Stephen Dovers: Institutional Change or Sustainable Development, Cheltenham (UK): Edward Elgar Publishing,, p. .

Ibid.3 http://www.worldinbalance.net/agreements/-brundtland.php



… In essence, sustainable development is a process o change in which the exploitation o

resources, the direction o investments, the orientation o technological development, and

institutional change are all in harmony and enhance both current and uture potential to

meet human needs and aspirations’. 4

According to the Brundtland Commission’s report, ‘critical objectives or environment and

development policies that ollow rom the concept o sustainable development include:

• Reviving growth;

• Changing the quality o growth;

• Meeting essential needs or jobs, ood, energy, water, and sanitation;

• Ensuring a sustainable level o population;

• Conserving and enhancing the resource base;

• Reorienting technology and managing risk; and

• Merging environment and economics in decision-making’.

Environmentally sustainable development has occupied a major place especially in the

economics literature.5 However, the concept is not all about environment. It has a social

dimension as well, which extends beyond poverty. It ‘presents a suite o interrelated and

signicant challenges,’ which includes inter alia ‘reconciling ecological, social and economic

imperatives in the long term; correcting grossly inequitable levels o human development; …

creating participatory modes o policy and management; and using innovative policy tools’. 6

In the course o time, the integration o social issues into the concept has been prioritized

by some economists, who sought to emphasize that development, which ails to provide all

with basic needs and democratic rights ‘is not desirable and may not be sustainable’. 7 ‘These

eforts have taken their most coherent orm with the evolution o the “human developmentparadigm,” which has ound an institutional home in the United Nations Development

Programme (UNDP) and an ambitious set o comparative data and analysis in the annual

Human Development Report’. 8 In these annual reports, which have been published annually

since , the UNDP has not only contributed to the progress o human development theories

but also came up with ‘an alternative set o economic measures designed to illuminate the

diverse quality-o-lie outcomes produced by per capita incomes’. 9 The UNDP’s principles are

straightorward: ‘Human development is a process o enlarging people’s choices. … (A)t all

levels o development, the three essential ones are or people to lead a long and healthy

lie, to acquire knowledge and to have access to resources needed or a decent standard o

living’. 10

In a similar vein, in its strategy or sustainable development, entitled ‘Quality o Lie counts,’ the

UK government states that ‘sustainable development is about ensuring a better quality o lie

or everyone, now and or generations to come. It means a more inclusive society, in which

the benets o increased economic prosperity are widely shared, with less pollution, and less

wasteul use o natural resources’. 11

4 Brundtland Commission Report, .5 Timothy A. Wise: Overview Essay. In Jonathan M. Harris et. al. (eds.) A Survey o Sustainable Development: Social and Economic

Dimensions, Washington DC: Island Press, , p. .6 Connor and Dovers, p. .7 Wise, p. .8 ibid.9 ibid. p. .10 UNDP cited in Wise: .11 Cited in Jennier A. Elliott: An Introduction to Sustainable Development, London and New York: Routledge, : .


http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/navigating-the-paradigm-shift 9/104INTRODUCTION TO THE CONCEPT OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 9

Given that, i we are to talk about sustainable development we have to realize that ‘economic

growth alone is not enough: the economic, social, and environmental aspects o any action

are interconnected’; ‘economic, environmental and social systems must all be kept in relative

equilibrium, and also balanced with each other, to be sustainable’. ‘The well being o the

environment, o economies, and o people is inextricably linked. … Considering only one o these at a time leads to errors in judgment and “unsustainable” outcomes’ . 1

So, what do we need to do to have sustainable outcomes? According to EU’s th Environmental

Action Programme and the Maastricht Treaty, to achieve sustainable outcomes all these

dimensions should be integrated into other policy sectors and in particular into economic

policy. This is an ambitious aim that implies a policy-making process, which involves ‘constant

strategic planning and concerted efort by a variety o diferent actors’, 13 which in turn requires

institutional change. This was exactly what the Brundtland Commission’s report has called

or. Institutional change was needed as the economic and political institutions o the time,

both in national and international level, had ailed to address the challenges that should be

overcome to attain sustainable development.

It seems not much has changed in the mean time. Almost years ater the report, Connor

and Dovers wrote, ‘past patterns o production and consumption; settlement and governance

have been unsustainable and have evolved to be so over a long period o time’. Thereore ‘the

problems are structural rather than supercial and not amenable to marginal organizational

or policy change … there is a prima acie case that the deeper institutional system o modern

society is not suited to the diferent and dicult social goal o sustainable development’.

Consequently, ‘(t)here is a strong consensus in the theoretical and empirical literature, and

even in ocial policy, that sustainable development requires signicant institutional change’.14

This brings in the ourth dimension, which is politics. Obviously, beyond its economic, social,

and environmental dimensions, sustainable development is basically a political concept, 15 as

the legal and institutional change required cannot be achieved without the involvement o

governments.

1 Tracey Strange and Anne Bayley: Sustainable Development: Linking Economy, Society, Environment, OECD, : pp. -.13 Geofrey Pridham and Dimitrios Konstadakopulos: Sustainable development in Mediterranean Europe? Interactions between

European, national and sub-national levels. In Susan Baker et.al. (eds.). The politics o sustainable development: theory, policy andpractice within the European Union. London and New York: Routledge, , p. .

14 Connor and Dovers, p. .15 Candice Stevens: Europe Leads the World in Sustainability, But Could Do Better, Europe’s World, Spring .



PART I

Energy Sustainability


http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/navigating-the-paradigm-shift 13/104GLOBAL TRENDS IN ENERGY SUSTAINABILITY 13

‘The Stone Age did not end or lack o stone, and the Oil Age will end long beore the world runs out

o oil.’ 16

. Global Trends in Energy Sustainability

From the sustainability point o view, the biggest challenge concerning the energy sector

at the moment is tackling climate change: ‘Science is now unequivocal as to the reality o

climate change. Human activities, in particular emissions o greenhouse gases (GHG) like

carbon dioxide are recognized as its principal cause’ 17. (See table ).

Table 1: Share o dierent anthropogenic GHGs in total emissions in 004 in terms o carbon

dioxide equivalents (CO2-eq.)

Many scientists as well as policy makers have a rm belie that keeping the rise in global mean

temperatures below degrees compared with pre-industrial levels is a signicant target,

as a higher increase "will entail sharply rising risks o crossing a climate 'tipping point' that

could lead to intolerable impacts on human well-being, in spite o all easible attempts at

adaptation" 18. Basically, there is virtually no country let that seriously doubts this target 19. To

achieve that aim, scientic consensus dictates that global GHG emissions must be reduced

by at least per cent by 0. At percent, burning o ossil uels in various sectors

has the biggest share o GHG emissions (see table ), and given that, exploring possible

ways to reduce the use o ossil uels is one o the most pressing issues on the agenda o theinternational community.

16 Sheikh Zak i Yamani cited in The Future o Energy: The End o the Oil Age, The Economist, October .17 Forum : Climate Change - The Anatomy o a Silent Crisis, Global Humanitarian Forum, Geneva, p. .18 Sigma Xi/UN Foundation Report on Global Warming cited in Friedman, Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution -

And How It Can Renew America, , p. ; see also Pathways to a Low-Carbon Economy, McKinsey&Company, , p. .19 Fritz Vahrenholt: On Green Technology, Germany Is the Envy o the World, Spiegel Online, December, .0 Low Carbon Transport: A Greener Future A Carbon Reduction Strategy, , p. .

Source o Emission %

CO (Fossil Fuel Use)

CO (Deorestation, decay o biomass etc.)

CO (Other)

CH

NO

F-Gases



1 The Power and the Glory, The Power and the Glory, p. .22 A Change or the Better in Europe, Spiegel Online, November .23 Fiona Harvey: The Case or Turning the Stimulus Green, Clean Energy, Financial Times Special Report, January .24 Energetic Progress, A Special Report on America’s Economy, The Economist, April .25 Andrew Charlesworth: Talking Energy: The Energy ‘Trilemma’, Telegraph, October .26 The Global Agenda , World Economic Forum, p. .27 Andrew Charlesworth: Talking Energy: The Energy ‘Trilemma’, Telegraph, October .

Table : Share o dierent sectors in total anthropogenic GHG emissions in 004 in terms o

CO2-eq (Forestry includes deorestation

However, climate change is not the sole challenge the energy sector has to heed at the

moment. Two other broad challenges are rising energy costs due to ‘peak oil’ dynamics; and

energy security.

In the last couple o years, ossil uel prices have become increasingly expensive. Furthermore,

‘there is growing concern that the supply o oil may soon peak as consumption continues to

grow, known supplies run out and new reserves become harder to nd,’ making the prices go

up urther 1.

In a similar vein, energy security became more o a pressing concern or importers o oil and

natural gas especially ater the dispute between Russia and Ukraine in January ‘depriveda number o Central and Eastern European countries – especially Bulgaria and Slovakia – o

gas supplies or two weeks in the middle o winter ,’ once again showing how problematic

it can be to be dependent on a single supplier. Similarly, relying on ‘politically unstable Middle

East’ or its oil has been a concern or the US 3, ever since the oil shocks o and 4.

These three considerations together are aptly called an “energy trilemma”: a challenge o

striking the right balance between three competing targets o environmental sustainability

(low carbon emission), economic competitiveness (afordability), and energy security

(reliability) 5. This situation makes many pundits believe that big changes are under way in the

eld o energy: ‘The carbon based energy paradigm o the last century, upon which we have

grown rich, now looks increasingly unsustainable … This is a major technological, nancingand organizational challenge. Across both developed and developing country, we will need a

undamental shit in energy systems – a new energy paradigm 6,’ the World Economic Forum

concludes. In countries like the UK, the question currently being asked is not ‘whether we

need to replace our existing generating capacity - it is with what 7’.

This big change or shit o paradigm will obviously involve an increasing use o other energy

sources beyond ossil uels, along with measures to increase eciency and conservation.

Sector %

Energy Supply ,

Industry ,

Forestry ,

Agriculture ,

Transport ,

Residential & Commercial Buildings ,

Waste & Water ,



The third major problem is the intermittency o wind and solar energy. As Crooks put it, ‘(a)ll

too oten, wind and solar power are produced in the wrong place at the wrong time 40’.

(T)heir availability as an energy source uctuates due to weather patterns, clouds, and cycles

o day and night. The electricity output rom power plants dependent on these variable

resources varies accordingly. The demand or electricity, however, does not ollow the same

pattern. In the case o wind electricity, electricity generation is sometimes greatest at night

when electricity demand is lowest 41.

This renders renewable energy a non-viable option unless energy can be stored on

a large scale 4. Although there is progress in the physical storage technologies as a

possible remedy or this problem, costs are still high, and perormance is uncertain 43.

Wind Energy

At the moment, wind power is the most mature, and cost competitive option among all

renewable energy resources 44. Modern turbines are % ecient; just . percentage points

lower than the theoretical maximum eciency achievable 45. The cost o generating electricity

rom wind power has allen rom as much as cents per kilowatt-hour in the early s to

around cents in 46’. The German Law or the Promotion o Renewable Energies, the

EEG 47, ‘mandates that energy companies buy wind power or cents per kilowatt-hour - not

much more than the price or conventional power on the electricity markets 48’.

Advantages o wind energy are numerous. Firstly, it is widely available: Theoretically speaking,

wind power can generate as much as . million terawatt hours o energy per year while

global energy consumption stands at just , terawatt hours, according to the IEA. In

other words, we need to turn only . percent o the calculated potential o wind energyinto electricity to meet the total global demand 49. Secondly, it does not pollute or emit GHG.

Thirdly, contrary to most power stations, wind arms can be built piecemeal. The day the rst

turbine is installed, it starts generating electricity, and thereore money 50. Fourthly, building

and installation o windmills is easier than other renewable energy sources 51.

There are disadvantages as well, however: Wind arms should be located in remote areas

where winds are strongest, which most o the time means they are also ar away rom urban

centers where the demand is highest, and thus rom existing transmission lines. Thereore

their development depends on the building o new transmission lines, which are among

other things very expensive to build (- million dollars a mile) 5. Another major problem is

intermittence: the act that a vast majority o windmills stop generating power when the windblows slowly, and when it blows too ast. Getting them to work whenever there is wind seems

to be the biggest challenge 53. Furthermore, there is as yet no good way to store excess energy

produced by wind power, meaning that i strong winds are blowing at a time when consumers

40 Obama’s Smart Vision or the Electricity Grid, Clean Energy, Financial Times Special Report, January .41 Komor, : .42 http://www.nature.com/news///pd/a.pd 43 Komor, : .44 Paul Komor: “Wind and Solar Electricity: Challenges and Opportunities” Pew Center on Global Climate Change, Solutions White

Paper Series, p. ; Ethical I nvesting: The Green Guide /.45 Trade Winds, The Power and the Glory: A Special Report on Energy, The Economist, June , p. .46 Wind o Change, p. .47 ‘which mandates the prices at which energy companies have to buy green power’ Anselm Waldermann, Spiegel Online,

//.48 Lubbadeh and Waldermann.49 Ibid.50 Trade Winds, The Power and the Glory: A Special Report on Energy, The Economist, June , p. .51 Meir Shargal.52 Wind and Solar Electricity : Challenges and Opportunities”, Paul Kramer. University o Colorado at Boulder, p. .53 Meir Shargal.



are using little electricity, much is wasted 54. Yet another handicap is that the public is generally

against them because they are noisy, spoiling the view, and dangerous or the birds 55.

Installing the windmills ofshore -generally several kilometers of the coast- can be a remedy

or some o these problems: ‘Ofshore wind parks have the dual advantage that they take

advantage o stronger sea winds and are not as disruptive as they are on land 56’. ‘Planning

permission can be easier to obtain than onshore, arms can be built at scales impossible on

land, and the availability o space is almost unlimited i deep waters are mastered 57’.

Drawback o ofshore wind parks, on the other hand, is their cost: It is more expensive to build a

wind arm in the middle o the sea; ‘each turbine costs at least % more than one built on land 58’.

These problems notwithstanding, wind power holds an important place in global projections.

‘Globally, wind power installations are expected to triple rom GW at the end o to

nearly GW in , according to BTM Consult, a Danish market-research rm. They will

then account or .% o world electricity generation, the company predicts, and by their

share could be nearly % 59’. In the US, a recent report by the Department o Energy laid out aplan to reach % wind power by 60. According the estimations o the IEA, ‘i global GHG

emissions are to be halved by , as scientists say is necessary, then wind must represent

about per cent o worldwide power generation by that date 61’.

Currently, wind generates only about % o all electricity globally 6. However, it already

constitutes a considerable portion o electricity supply in several European countries, and

American states (See table ). In some German states, wind power supplies more than

percent 63.

Table 3: Wind penetration rates: Percentage o in-state or in-region generation that comes

rom wind (007)

Source: U.S. Department o Energy, 008 cited in Paul Kramer, p. 16.

54 Lubbadeh and Waldermann.55 Wind o Change, p..56 Lubbadeh and Waldermann.

57 Ethical Investing: The Green Guide /.58 A new twist or oshore wind, Technology Quarterly, The Economist, June , p. .59 Wind o Change, Technology Quarterly, The Economist, December December , p. .60 Ibid.61 Fiona Har vey, Winds o Change Blow Across the Global Market, Financial Times, June 62 Wind o Change, Technology Quarterly, The Economist, December , p. .63 Lubbadeh and Waldermann.

Country/Region %

Denmark

Spain

Portugal

Ireland

Minnesota ,

Iowa ,

Colorado ,

South Dakot



Wind power is, obviously, on the rise in the US ‘where capacity jumped by % to reach nearly

GW at the end o (about % o new electricity generating capacity in came rom

wind power) 64’. China’s pace o installing new wind turbines has been even more spectacular:

‘Since the end o , the country has nearly doubled its capacity every year 65’. ‘By the end

o , the country’s wind-generating capacity will be about gigawatts—equal to Spain’sand only slightly behind Germany’s and America’s’ according to The Economist, and ‘(t)he aim

is to have gigawatts by . That is an eighth o China’s present electricity-generating

capacity 66’.

Table 4: Countries with most installed wind power (Gigawatts)

Source: Global Wind Energy Council cited in Economist.

Solar Energy

As ar as its potential as a source o energy is concerned, none o the alternatives can compete

with solar energy. Energy received rom the sun in hour can satisy the yearly energy demand

o the earth’s entire population 67. In principle, ‘the current electricity needs o the US could be

generated rom the solar energy alling on PV cells over an area o km square or on CSP

installations covering a somewhat smaller area’ (Houghton,: -). Furthermore, unlike

ossil uels, there is no danger o it running out; it is ubiquitous; it produces no CO emissions

or other downside or the environment; and unlike wind turbines, there is public support or

solar energy 68.

However, so ar ‘only a small raction o this vast potential has been exploited 69’. By , only

. percent o all energy produced came rom solar 70 because the cost o producing electricity

64 Wind o Change, Technology Quarterly, The Economist, December December , p. .65 Ibid.66 The Coming Alternatives, The Economist, November .67 Jerry Silver, : .68 Heernan 69 Jerry Silver, : .70 Heernan,

Country 008 (GW) 009 (GW) % o world total, 009

U.S. ,

Germany ,

China ,

Spain ,

India , ,

Italy ,

France , , ,

Britain , ,

Portugal , ,

Denmark , ,



rom solar energy is still too high to compete with coal, gas, wind, or nuclear 71. It still requires

a great deal o ‘investment or research and development to grow the economies o scale

required to bring costs down to acceptable levels’ 7. Nevertheless, it should be noted that

prices are alling rapidly. In , a kWh o photovoltaic electricity used to cost cents. That

had allen to cents in and is still dropping according to Cambridge Energy ResearchAssociates 73.

Another handicap o solar energy (similar to wind) is intermittency: It is not available at night

and is less available when it is cloudy 74.

There are two competing approaches in generating electricity using the sun. One o them

is using photovoltaic cells (PV), which directly convert sunlight into electricity. The second

method is to concentrate the sun’s rays, use them to boil water and employ the resulting

steam to drive a turbine 75. There is a rm belie among the experts that this competition will

oster continued innovation, and a growing supply o clean electricity, in the years to come 76’.

Solar-Photovoltaic

PV cells are the most common orm o solar power at the moment 77. Existing solar PV power

capacity has reached . GW by 78.

A good thing about PV cells is that they ‘are quiet, have no moving parts, can be installed very

quickly, and can be sized to power anything rom a single light to an entire community 79’. As

they can be installed in small, modular systems, they require much less capital investment 80,

and this makes every roo a ‘potential mini-power plant’ 81 rendering it possible to generate

electricity at home even in sun-poor countries like Germany 8. For large-scale deployments to

be easible however, sunnier climates and locations like ‘deserts where there is plenty o spaceor the panels to be installed’ are required 83.

Furthermore, PV’s can generate electricity of the grid 84, meaning that they can be used

to generate electricity where it is ‘otherwise inconvenient, too expensive, or impractical to

connect to existing power lines 85’. For that reason, a majority o ‘the photovoltaic installations

over the past ew decades were used to provide new power rather than to replace electricity

generated by ossil uels86’. Nowadays, the trend has changed, and the market or on-grid

systems is growing aster than the of-grid ones87. On-grid applications have a number o

benets or both the consumers, and the utilities:

I a solar array produces more power than is needed at a particular time, that power

can be delivered to the power grid or distribution to other customers by the local

utility. Individual producers o solar-generated electricity can (legally) run their electric

71 Heernan, 72 Houghton: : .73 Cited in Another Silicon Valley, The Power and the Glory: A Special Report on Energy, The Economist, June , p. .74 Meir Shargal.75 Another Silicon Valley.76 The Other Kind o Solar Power, Technology Quarterly, The Economist, June , p. .77 The O ther Kind o Solar Power, p. .78 The Other Kind o Solar Power, p. .79 Ibid.80 The Other K ind o Solar Power, Technology Quarterly, The Economist, June , p. .81 ‘Japan was the frst to encourage rootop solar installations and by had installed MW capacity. Germany and the USA

ollowed with large rootop programmes, Germany with a target o roos that was met by and the USA with a target

by o million roos’ (Houghton, : ).82 Jens Lubbadeh and Anselm Waldermann: How Eective Are Renewables, Really?, Spiegel Online, December .83 Lubbadeh and Waldermann.84 The Other Kind o Solar Power.85 Jerry Silver: Global Warming and Climate Change Demystiied, McGraw Hill, , p. .86 Silver, : .87 Ibid.



meters backwards and be compensated or that power. Although power purchased

by utilities is regulated at the state level, it can provide a benet to the utilities by

providing power during peak-demand periods. During the hottest part o the day,

when air-conditioning loads are greatest, local grid-connected PV systems can help

utilities to avoid ring up their more costly supplemental natural gas–red turbines. Italso can reduce the need to add capacity just to meet peak demand88.

These advantages notwithstanding, ‘rom an economic standpoint photovoltaic is much less

attractive; although the cost o generating electricity rom PV ‘cells has reduced dramatically

over the past years’ 89 its price at cents per kilowatt-hour, -compared to wind at just

cents (the price mandated by the EEG) 90 - is still too expensive to compete with its alternatives.

This is seen as a major obstacle to widespread use o PV panels 91. According to Silver, PVs ‘are

about three times more expensive than they need to be to compete in today’s energy market

with ossil uel–generated electricity’ 9. This high cost largely stems rom the diculty o the

production process o solar panels. However, this seems to change with the joining o new

producers in the market. Only in , ‘prices ell by percent, a trend driven primarily byChinese manuacturers’ 93.

Solar-Thermal

Solar thermal is an old and technically proven technology, which was introduced in s

in Caliornia as a remedy or high oil prices. Though it was sidelined when oil prices ell, the

technology is making a comeback. However, existing solar-thermal power capacity is only

MW.

It is believed that large solar thermal power plants in countries with lots o sun have huge

potential, and another GW is reportedly being planned, showing that the method has a

bright uture 94. The Desertec project is the most important case in point. This is ‘a concept

developed by a group o scientists that envisions gigantic power plants in the Sahara Desert

that could, in theory, provide enough electricity or the entire world. High-tension lines are to

transport the power across the Mediterranean to Europe 95’.

Should Desertec in the Sahara Desert ever become reality… then huge quantities o

power could be generated by solar thermal technology. And or the moment, it looks

like progress is being made. In October (), a number o industrial and nancial

heavyweights joined orces to create the Desertec Industrial Initiative. The goal: by

, the project hopes to supply percent o Europe's energy needs. The costs,

however, are high. The power plant itsel will cost some € billion with an additional

€ billion required or a new and ecient grid 96.

‘Despite having been around or decades, the technology, with an energy-conversion

eciency rating o to percent, is not yet as ecient as coal or nuclear. A kilowatt-hour

o solar thermal electricity costs between and cents. But improvement is in sight, with

experts predicting that technological improvements will sink the cost to below cents per

kilowatt-hour by ’ 97.

88 Silver, : .89 Houghton, : .90 Lubbadeh and Waldermann.91 Silver, : .92 Ibid.93 Lubbadeh and Waldermann.94 The other kind o solar power, Technology Quarterly, The Economist, June , p. .95 Lubbadeh and Waldermann.96 Ibid.97 Ibid.



98 Houghton, : .99 The other kind o solar power, p. .100 Ibid.101 Ibid.

102 The other kind o solar power, Technology Quarterly, The Economist, June , p. .; see also Meir Shargal.103 The other kind o solar power, Technology Quarterly, The Economist, June , p. ; see also Meir Shargal.104 Rebecca Bream: Carbon Capture at Core o Plans or Fossil Fuels, FT Special.105 In , % o the US’s electricity came rom coal-burning plants (Komor, : ).107 Andrew Charlesworth: Talking Energy: carbon capture and storage, Telegraph, Nov .108 Dig Deep, The Power and the Glory, p. .109 Silver, : .

‘Developments that are currently being pursued are o integration o solar and ossil uel heat

sources in combined cycle operation to enable continuous electricity provision throughout

the day, and, in arid areas, o co-generation o power and heat or desalination or the delivery

o resh water’ 98.

Basically there are diferent solar thermal technologies, though commercially only the rst

two have been so ar implemented:

- Parabolic troughs

- Power towers

- Stirling-engine (Dish-engine) system

Solar-thermal plants have numerous advantages: First o all, they are large-scale, and the cost

o producing electricity is much lower, making it probably the best option among renewable

sources to match a utility’s electrical load 99. Secondly, the generated heat can be stored

thereore intermittency is less 100. Thirdly, they use a turbine to generate electricity rom heat;

thereore most o them can be easily and cheaply supplemented with natural-gas boilers,

enabling them to perorm as reliably as a ossil-uel power plant 101.

Downsides o solar-thermal technology on the other hand are as ollows: Firstly, although

solar-thermal power produces no carbon-dioxide emissions, it can have some negative

environmental impacts. Both power-tower and trough-based systems are typically water-

cooled, and require millions o gallons o water annually. That can cause big problems,

especially where water shortages are widespread. In contrast, Stirling-engine designs do not

require water or cooling 10. Secondly, when building power plants in remote locations – as

best locations i.e. where the sun shines best, are ar rom major population centers - a lack

o transmission lines poses a serious problem, since it is dicult and expensive to get newtransmission lines approved and built 103.

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)

Coal, which is abundant, is the cheapest source o producing electricity. However, as ar as the

GHG emissions are concerned, it is the most harmul as well: ‘It creates more carbon dioxide

than any other method o power generation104’. The problem is that as the US energy secretary

Steven Chu recently stated, big economies like the US 105, China and India are highly unlikely

to stop burning coal in the near uture 106. This makes CCS, which is also known as ‘clean coal’

vital in the struggle against global climate change 107.

CCS is basically, a method, which makes coal’s use less harmul, and involves burying carbon

dioxide deep underground to avoid emissions rom entering the atmosphere 108. ‘Possible

storage methods under consideration include injection in stable underground geologic

ormations, dissolution in the ocean depths, or binding in solid orm as chemical carbonates’ 109.



The main problem with this method is that no one knows i it will work or not in practice.

Although the technology has been used in petrochemical and chemical processes or many

years, ‘ully operational CCS as it is envisaged by the power companies is still several years

away110’.

Furthermore, it is expensive. ‘The one serious attempt to investigate its use in an actual power

station … was cancelled … because the expected cost had risen rom $m to $. billion’ 111.

.. Demand Side: Conservation and Eciency

We have to bear in mind that although the ‘most renewable energy sources do not produce

pollution directly, the material, industrial processes, and construction equipment used to

create them may generate waste and pollution’ 11. Given that ‘the cheapest kW o energy isthe one not used’ 113.

While supply side involves macro changes in technology and government policies, demand

side (or at least conservation) has more to do with micro decisions most o the time at the

consumer level.

The nuance between conservation and eciency is that conservation is basically doing less

with less, while eciency means wasting less energy. ‘More ecient appliances, lighting,

actories, and buildings, as well as vehicles, could wipe out one th to one third o the world's

energy consumption without any real deprivation’ according to Michael Grunwald 114.

Smart Grids

One way o increasing eciency is improving the distribution network. The term smart grid

‘encompasses almost anything that would make power transmission more reliable, exible

and convenient, rom meters that send in readings automatically to sotware that detects

snapped cables and reroutes power supplies around them’ 115. Ed Crooks o Financial Times

denes it as ‘an electricity network that uses inormation technology to manage generation

and consumption more exibly ’ 116.

Although companies around the world are investing billions o dollars to develop clean energy

technologies, unless power grids that link them together are not upgraded, everything willbe in vain. This is largely due to the renewable energy sources’ distributed and intermittent

nature, which makes their integration into the existing grid dicult. The ow o energy

between new sources o supply and new orms o demand can be accommodated only i the

world’s electrical grids become ‘a lot smarter 117’.

A smart grid, which will be equipped with computer power, is expected to be ar more

responsive, interactive and transparent than today’s grid. In this way, the grid will cope

better with new sources o renewable energy; make the co-ordinated charging o electric

110 Andrew Charlesworth: Talking Energy: carbon capture and storage, Telegraph, Nov .111 Dig Deep, The Power and the Glory, p. .112 Meir Shargal, The Myth and Realities o Renewable Energy113 Sustainability, Energy and Environment: Printcity Special Report, . p. .114 Michael Grunwald: Seven Myths About Alternative Energy, Foreign Policy, August .115 Clever, But Unprincipled, The Economist, ...116 Obama’s Smart Vision or the Electricity Grid, Clean Energy, Financial Times Special Report, January .117 Building the Smart Grid, June .



118 Clever, but unprincipled, The Economist, October .119 Ibid.120 Ethical Investing: The Green Guide, /.121 Among others, China also has a similar scheme (A Chinese wind-power IPO: Pued Up, The Economist, December ).122 Komor, :.123 Laura Blue/Schwandor: Lessons rom Germany, Time, April .124 Ibid.125 Ibid.

cars possible, inorm the consumers about their consumption; allow utilities to monitor and

control their networks more efectively, and in doing so help in reducing the GHG emissions.

Technology alone, however, is clearly not a substitute or policy in the efort to green the

energy production 118. The lack o a price on carbon is considered as the biggest impediment

to the spread o renewable energy sources 119. Thereore, investment in energy eciency, and

cleaner orms o generation should be encouraged through new legislations. Alternative

options that can be implemented to this end are discussed below.

Reducing ossil uel subsidies

This basically includes ‘dismantling o any scal support or ossil uels – uel subsidies, research

grants, exploration concession waivers, investment tax holidays, accelerated depreciation,

export guarantees and sot loans’ 10.

Feed-in tari

This is a requirement that electricity providers purchase electricity rom renewable electricity

generators at a mandated price. Feed-in tarifs are a popular policy approach in Western

Europe, with Germany’s eed-in tarif (called the Renewable Energy Law, EEG) being the

most well known 11. The EEG requires utilities to purchase electricity rom certain types o

renewable generators, and sets the price that utilities must pay. In utilities paid to

US ¢/kWh or electricity rom solar PV systems, or wind the set price was ¢/kWh. These

prices generally decline over time.

Given these generous prices, it’s not a surprise that the EEG has triggered a renewables boomin Germany. Germany has more wind power (~ GW), and more installed PV (~ GW) than

any other country in Europe 1. The EEG constitutes the centerpiece o the country’s climate-

change program: ‘Without prescribing any specic action, the law subsidizes citizens who

produce their own energy rom renewable sources, and allows them to sell surplus back to

the grid’ 13. The German Environment Ministry estimated that more than % o the country's

electricity in came rom renewable sources, which is two times more than the proportion

in , the year that the ederal government introduced the eed-in law. Time magazine

reports that the law has support rom all o Germany's major political parties, and that Sven

Teske, renewable-energy director or Greenpeace International, also endorses it. ‘It's the most

successul tool. It's the cheapest way o phasing in renewables,’ 14 Teske says.

‘Spain, Italy — and the state o Caliornia — now have their own versions o the eed-in law’ 15.

Cap-and-trade system

The cap and trade system is considered to be one o the most inuential instruments in the ght

against climate change. Basically, it works by making emitting GHG expensive, and in doing

so motivating large-scale emitters such as utilities, actories, cement plants, municipalities,



steel mills etc. to switch to more environmentally riendly technologies by using ree-market

principles and government regulation. This is basically how it works: Governments limit the

amount o emissions permitted (cap), and impose heavy nes on those who exceed those

limits. On the other hand, they allow them to buy and sell permits (trade) among themselves.

For instance, ‘i an organization emits less than its allotment, it can sell the unused permits toentities that plan on exceeding their limits. They can trade permits with one another through

brokers or in organized local or global markets’ 16. The amount o permits issued over time

decreases and this is expected to increase the price o the permits, and in turn, to reduce

pollution levels 17.

Currently, the EU has the largest emissions trading market, which was launched in January

18.

Carbon Tax

A potentially more efective alternative to the cap-and-trade system is carbon tax. ‘IPCC…reckons that ossil uels should carry a tax o $- or every ton o carbon dioxide they

generate in order to pay or the environmental efects o burning them’ 19.

The basic distinction between cap-and-trade system, and carbon tax is that the ormer ‘provides

environmental certainty, since the quantity o total allowable emissions is set’, while the latter

‘provides price certainty, since the cost o emitting a given amount o GHGs is set’ 130. Price

certainty is ‘an important benet to industries like power generation, which produces a lot o

GHG, and which must be condent that an expensive new power station will stay protable

or several years’ 131. Cap-and-trade system on the other hand, leads to uctuations in price, as

the experience o the European case has already shown.

One o the downsides o this method is that ‘(d)etermining the correct level at which to set a

tax in order to drive any given level o emissions reductions is dicult’ 13. The political diculty

o convincing the electorate, which has not yet decided what it thinks about climate change,

is another obstacle beore the carbon tax 133.

126 Joel Kurzman: The Low Carbon Diet: How the Market Can Curb Climate Change, Foreign Aairs, September/October .127 Constance Cheng: Top Environmental Moments o the Decade, CNN, December .128 Ibid.129 The Power and the Glory, p. 130 Pew Center on Global Climate Change: Climate Change Cap and Trade, January .131 Some More Thoughts on a Carbon Tax, The Economist, June .132 Pew Center on Global Climate Change: Climate Change Cap and Trade, January .133 Some More Thoughts on a Carbon Tax, The Economist, June .


http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/navigating-the-paradigm-shift 25/104EUROPEAN POLICIES FOR ENERGY SUSTAINABILITY 25

134 http://ec.europa.eu/energy/energy_policy/doc/_energy_policy_or_europe_en.pd (accessed nd October ).

. European Policies or Energy Sustainability

Europe's citizens and companies need a secure supply o energy at afordable prices in order

to maintain their standards o living. At the same time, the negative efects o energy use,

particularly ossil uels, on the environment must be reduced. Within this context, EU policy

ocuses on creating a competitive internal energy market ofering quality service at low prices,

on developing renewable energy sources, on reducing dependence on imported uels, and

on doing more with a lower consumption o energy.

.. An Energy Policy or Europe (COM() ) 134

In striving towards an efective European Internal Energy market, national energy regulators

must be harmonized on the basis o the highest common denominator, including technicalstandards in order to acilitate cross-border trade. Additionally, national regulators should be

promoting the development o the EU Internal Energy Market.

Vertically integrated companies, which control energy networks as well as production or

sales, not only prevent competition but also lack the incentives to adequately invest in their

networks. As part o an efective Internal Energy market, the EC is proposing an ownership

unbundling where network companies are wholly separate rom the supply and generation

companies.

The EC promotes transparency in all available inormation in the energy markets, in order to

acilitate market players and avoid price manipulation.

One o the top priorities o the Priority Interconnection Plan o the EC is the identication

o the most signicant missing inrastructure up to and the ensuring o pan-European

political support to ll the gaps.

Network security, established through the set-up o minimum security standards or networks,

is considered essential in the efort to increase the reliability o EU’s electricity systems and

prevent black-outs.

In order to secure the required investment or uture electricity generation that would provide

or the adequacy o electricity generation and gas supply capacity, the Internal Energy Market

needs to be properly unctioning by providing the correct investment signals. In addition,

close monitoring o the demand/ supply balance is also needed, to identiy any potential

shortall.

Finally, the EU, managing energy as a public service, needs to tackle energy poverty o European

citizens by: (a) assisting in establishing schemes to help the most vulnerable citizens deal

with increases in energy prices, (b) improving the minimum level o inormation available to

citizens to help them choose between suppliers and supply options, (c) reducing paper work

when customers change supplier, and protecting customers rom unair selling practices.

It is important or EU to promote diversity with regard to source, supplier, transport route and

transport method within its Member States that would guarantee security o supply or oil, gas

and electricity. In addition, efective mechanisms need to be put in place to ensure solidarity between Member States in the event o an energy crisis.



The EU has a long-term commitment to greenhouse gases reduction. The EU traditionally avours

the use o economic instruments to internalize external costs as they allow the market to

determine how to react most eciently and with limited costs. One o the tools utilized

towards this end is the EU Emissions Trading System.

The EU has set an ambitious programme o energy eciency measures at Community,national, local and international level. On October the Commission adopted the

Energy Eciency Action Plan, containing measures that would put the EU well on the path

to achieving a key goal o reducing its global primary energy use by % by . This will

require signicant eforts both in terms o behavioural change and additional investment.

Having said that, the EU has allen short o its target or % share o renewable energy

in its overall mix by . The main reason or the ailure (besides the higher costs o RES

today compared to “traditional” energy sources) is the lack o a coherent and efective policy

ramework throughout the EU and a stable long-term vision. A longer-term target or renewable

energy needs to be set. The challenge o renewables policy is to nd the right balance between

installing large scale renewable energy capacity today, and waiting until research lowers theircost tomorrow. Finding the right balance means taking the ollowing actors into account:

(a) using renewable energy today is generally more expensive than using hydrocarbons,

but the gap is narrowing – particularly when the costs o climate change are actored in; (b)

economies o scale can reduce the costs or renewables, but this needs major investment

today; (c) renewable energy helps to improve the EU’s security o energy supply by increasing

the share o domestically produced energy, diversiying the uel mix and the sources o

energy imports and increasing the proportion o energy rom politically stable regions as well

as creating new jobs in Europe; and (d) renewable energies emit ew or no greenhouse gases,

and most o them bring signicant air quality benets.

EU Member States should have the exibility to promote the renewable energies most suited

to their specic potential and priorities. The way in which Member States will meet their

targets should be set out in National Action Plans to be notied to the Commission. The plans

should contain sectoral targets and measures consistent with achieving the agreed overall

national targets.

The EU needs to invest a lot in Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technologies and their wide

commercialization i it is to head towards a low CO2 ossil uel uture and achieve almost zero

carbon emission rom carbon power generation by , so that the likely continued use o

the vast global coal reserves is not to exacerbate climate change.

Nuclear energy is one o the cheapest sources o low carbon energy that is presently being

produced in the EU and also has relatively stable costs. The next generation o nuclear reactors

should reduce these costs urther. It is or each Member State to decide whether or not to rely

on nuclear electricity.

The challenges o security o energy supply and climate change cannot be overcome by

the EU or its Member States acting individually. It needs to work with both developed and

developing countries, energy consumers and producers, to ensure competitive, sustainable

and secure energy. The EU must thereore develop an International Energy Policy that actively

pursues Europe’s interests as well as pursuing efective energy relations with all its international

partners, based on mutual trust, cooperation and interdependence.

Europe has two key objectives or energy technology: to lower the cost o clean energy and

to put EU industry at the oreront o the rapidly growing low carbon technology sector. To

meet these objectives, the Commission has presented in a European Strategic Energy

Technology Plan (SET Plan). This Plan implies a long term vision to match the long term

challenge o moving towards a low carbon energy system in a competitive manner. The Plan

is presented in the next section.



.. Investing in the Development o Low-Carbon Technologies- SET Plan (COM() ) 135

Reinventing our energy system on a low carbon model is one o the critical challenges o thest Century. Today, in the EU, our primary energy supply is % dependent on ossil uels.

Networks and supply chains have been optimised over decades to deliver energy rom these

sources to our society. Economic growth and prosperity has been built on oil, coal and gas.

But, ossil uels have also made the EU vulnerable to energy supply disruptions rom outside

the EU, to volatility in energy prices and to climate change.

Markets and energy companies acting on their own are unlikely to be able to deliver the

needed technological breakthroughs within a suciently short time span to meet the EU's

energy and climate policy goals, nor will they be willing or able to accelerate technology

development over a suciently broad portolio o technologies. The European Strategic

Energy Technology Plan (SET-Plan) is the EU's response to the challenge o accelerating the

development o low carbon technologies, leading to their widespread market take-up.

The medium- to long-term goals o this plan are as ollows:

- By 00, technologies will have to make the % renewable target a reality by permitting

a sharp increase in the share o lower cost renewables.

- By 030, electricity and heat will increasingly need to be produced rom low carbon

sources and extensive near-zero emission ossil uel power plants with CO2 capture and

storage. Transport will need to increasingly adapt to using nd generation biouels and

hydrogen uel cells.

- For 050 and beyond, the switch to low carbon in the European energy system should

be completed, with an overall European energy mix that could include large shares or

renewables, sustainable coal and gas, sustainable hydrogen, and, or those member states

that want, Generation IV ssion power and usion energy.

In order to achieve the set targets, the Commission, working together with stakeholders, has

drawn up Technology Roadmaps which describe the way orward. Following are some o the

proposals o the Plan:

Wind energy has to accelerate the reduction o costs, increasingly move ofshore and resolve the

associated grid integration issues i it is to ull its huge potential. To support its rapid expansion,

we need: to develop a better picture o wind resources in Europe, through coordinatedmeasurement campaigns; to build - testing acilities or new turbine components; up to

demonstration projects o next generation turbines; at least prototypes o new ofshore

substructures tested in diferent environments; demonstrate new manuacturing processes;

and test the viability o new logistics strategies and erection techniques in remote and oten

hostile weather environments. All o this must be underpinned by a comprehensive research

programme to improve the conversion eciency o wind turbines. The total public and

private investment needed in Europe over the next years is estimated as € bn. The return

would be ully competitive wind power generation capable o contributing up to % o

EU electricity by and as much as % by . More than , skilled jobs could be

created.

135 http://ec.europa.eu/energy/technology/set_plan/doc/_comm_investing_development_low_carbon_technologies_en.pd (accessed nd October ).



Solar energy, including photovoltaics (PV) and concentrated solar power (CSP), has to become

more competitive and gain mass market appeal. Problems derived rom its distributed and

variable nature need to be resolved. To support the development o PV, we need: a long-term

research programme ocussed on advanced PV concepts and systems; up to pilot plants or

automated mass production; and a portolio o demonstration projects or both decentralisedand centralised PV power production. For CSP, the overriding need is or industrial up-scaling

o demonstrated technologies by building up to rst-o-a-kind power plants, supported

by a research programme to reduce costs and improve eciency, particularly through heat

storage. The total public and private investment needed in Europe over the next years is

estimated as € bn. Up to % o EU electricity could be generated by solar power in

as a result o such a programme coupled with market-based incentives. More than ,

skilled jobs could be created.

Electricity networks have to respond to three interrelated challenges – creating a real internal

market; integrating a massive increase o intermittent energy sources; and managing complex

interactions between suppliers and customers. To ensure that our electricity networks are t

or the st Century, we need a strongly integrated research and demonstration programme:

research to develop new technologies to monitor, control and operate networks in normal

and emergency conditions and develop optimal strategies and market designs to provide all

actors with the right incentives to contribute to the overall eciency and cost-efectiveness

o the electricity supply chain; up to large-scale demonstration projects at real lie scale to

validate solutions and assess their real system benets, beore rolling them out across Europe.

The total public and private investment needed in Europe over the next years is estimated

as € bn. The goal is that by , % o networks in Europe would enable the seamless

integration o renewables and operate along 'smart' principles, efectively matching supply

and demand and supporting the internal market or the benet o citizens.

Bio-energy has to bring to commercial maturity the most promising technologies, in order

to permit large-scale, sustainable production o advanced biouels and highly ecient

combined heat and power rom biomass. Diferent bio-energy pathways are at various

stages o maturity. For many, the most pressing need is to demonstrate the technology at the

appropriate scale – pilot plants, pre-commercial demonstration or ull industrial scale. Up to

such plants will be needed across Europe to take ull account o difering geographical and

climate conditions and logistical constraints. A longer term research programme will support

the development o a sustainable bio-energy industry beyond . The total public and

private investment needed in Europe over the next years is estimated as € bn. By , thecontribution to the EU energy mix rom cost-competitive bio-energy used in accordance with

the sustainability criteria o the new RES directive could be at least %. More than ,

local jobs could be created.

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies have to be widely commercialised i the EU

is to achieve almost zero carbon power generation by and i the likely continued use

o the vast global coal reserves is not to exacerbate climate change. The pressing need is to

demonstrate at industrial scale the ull CCS chain or a representative portolio o diferent

capture, transport and storage options. At the same time, a comprehensive research

programme will deliver improved components, integrated systems and processes to make

CCS commercially easible in ossil uel power plants going into operation ater . The total

public and private investment needed in Europe over the next years is estimated as €

bn. The target is to reduce the cost o CCS to - € per tonne o CO2 by , making it cost-

efective within a carbon pricing environment.



Energy eciency is the simplest and cheapest way to secure CO reductions. In transport,

buildings and industry, available technology opportunities must be turned into business

opportunities. This new European initiative – Smart Cities – has the objective to create the

conditions to trigger the mass market take-up o energy eciency technologies. The initiative

will support ambitious and pioneer cities (e.g. rom the Covenant o Mayors) that wouldtransorm their buildings, energy networks and transport systems into those o the uture,

demonstrating transition concepts and strategies to a low carbon economy. Participating

cities and regions will be expected to test and demonstrate the easibility o going beyond the

current EU energy and climate objectives – i.e. towards a % reduction o greenhouse gas

emissions through sustainable production, distribution and use o energy by . The total

public and private investment needed in Europe over the next years is estimated as € bn.

By , the Smart Cities initiative should put to European cities at the oreront o the

transition to a low carbon uture. These cities will be the nuclei rom which smart networks, a

new generation o buildings and low carbon transport solutions will develop into European

wide realities that will transorm our energy system.

The European Energy Research Alliance (EERA) is elevating cooperation between national

research institutes to a new level – rom an ad-hoc participation in uncoordinated joint projects

to collectively devising and implementing joint programmes. To accelerate the development

o new generations o low carbon technologies, we need to build on the momentum o the

Alliance and boost the scale o its joint programmes through additional investment. Taking

ideas out o the laboratory and developing them to the point where they can be taken up

by industry is a step that needs to be shortened considerably. The involvement o universities

in the Alliance through the platorm created by the European University Association will

help ensure that the best brains can be mobilised. Over the next two years, the Alliance will

launch and implement joint programmes addressing the key challenges o the SET-Plan with

concrete technological objectives. Strong links will be developed with the Industrial Initiativesto ensure industrial relevance. On the basis o current progress, we estimate that the Alliance

could expand its activities to efectively manage an additional public investment, EU and

national, o € bn over years.



. Energy Sustainability: Current Situation in theGreek Cypriot Community

Cyprus’ energy legislation is already broadly harmonized with that o the European Union,which aims at the attainment o a healthy competition in the market and the sucient supply

o energy to meet the needs o the country, with as low as possible burden on the economy

and the environment. The implementation o the above is to be achieved through: (a) the

liberalization o the electricity and gas market, ending the monopoly o the EAC (Electricity

Authority o Cyprus) in the production and supply o electricity by opening about % to

ree competition; (b) the liberalization o petroleum market with abolition o price controls

and cross-subsidies between diferent uels, and pricing based on ree market rules with an

adjustment o the related tax-system; (c) the creation o storage terminals or the strategic and

operating reserves o petroleum; (d) the implementation o programs or the development

and use o energy-saving technologies, the exploitation o renewable energy sources and

the protection o the environment rom industrial pollution; and (e) the promotion o otherenvironmentally riendly energy sources, such as natural gas 136.

.. Energy Authorities o the Republic o Cyprus

The National Energy Policy o Cyprus is ormulated by the Energy Service o the Ministry

o Commerce, Industry and Tourism. The Cyprus Energy Regulatory Authority (CERA) is

the competent authority responsible or the general overview o the energy market in

the country, so that the aorementioned policies are duly promoted and implemented.

Furthermore, the Cyprus Institute o Energy (CIE) is particularly involved in the promotion o

Energy Conservation and Rational Use o Energy, as well as the development and promotion

o Renewable Energy Sources (wind, solar, biomass, hydro, geothermal or any other orm o

known renewable energy, or may prove worthy o consideration in the uture) in Cyprus.

.. Conventional sources o energy

By the end o , the conclusion o works or the Energy Centre at Vasiliko was expected,

which shall include a terminal or the importation, storage and de-liqueying o LNG (liqueednatural gas), as well as a terminal or the importation and storage o petroleum. As a result, it

was expected that by the end o Cyprus would be able to start the production o energy

using natural gas. It is important to note that the Vasiliko Energy Centre’s design includes all

required provisions or coverage o the energy needs o the whole o Cyprus 137.

By , it is expected that actions or exploitation o the hydrocarbon deposits that might

be present within the Economic Zone o Cyprus, will urther be promoted by the Cyprus

government.

136 Ministry o Commerce, Industry and Tourism – Energy Service (website), “Energy Policies & Targets”.137 Cyprus interview, Solon Kasinis, Director o Energy Service, Nicosia, September .


http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/navigating-the-paradigm-shift 31/104ENERGY SUSTAINABILITY: CURRENT SITUATION IN THE GREEK CYPRIOT COMMUNITY 31

138 Cyprus stakeholder panel, Nicosia, February .139 Cyprus stakeholder panel, Nicosia, March .140 Solon Kasinis, “Renewable Energy & Energy Conservation: The Business Environment in Cyprus”, Ministry o Commerce, Industry &

Tourism - Energy Service, Nicosia, May .

.. Development o Renewable Energy Sources (RES)

As a member o the EU, Cyprus has made some progress over the years to coordinate with EU

directives regarding energy issues - development o RES, improvement o energy eciency,

quality standards o petroleum products, supervision o ossil uels market, retaining o saetyenergy reserves, purchase o electricity and natural gas, etc. When it comes to Renewable

Energy, it is expected that by and beyond, major projects or electricity production shall

be concluded using wind and solar energy, biomass and biogas, as well as geothermic energy.

Also, a series o EU directives and regulations shall be implemented.

As mentioned in the previous chapter, the EU is committed to reducing its overall emissions to

at least % below levels by . I t has also set itsel the target o increasing the share o

renewables (wind, solar, biomass, etc) in energy use to % by as well as cutting energy

consumption by % o projected levels by improving energy eciency. Currently, the

share o renewables in energy use within EU is about .%. Cyprus has set a respective target

o % or year , and in stood at a share o .%.

Ocial data by the EU shows that the Town Planning bureaus in Cyprus constitute a major

obstacle to the development o RES systems in the country, although the procedures or a

permit or the installation o RES systems have recently been signicantly simplied 138. Another

issue is the number o authorities involved in the issuance o a licence (more than the

average number o authorities in other Member States), which delays the whole procedure.

Nevertheless, Cyprus compares avourably to other Member States when it comes to

inorming the public regarding RES systems development.

The Cyprus government provides a number o subsidy programmes, which aim to encourage

the private sector to invest in RES systems and the deployment o energy ecient systems

(e.g. purchase o eco-riendly cars). All sorts o subsidies provided or these purposes come

rom a special RES und, nanced by additional tax on electricity bills to consumers (currentlyset at . €cents/kWh with plans to increase to . €cents/kWh) 139.

The private sector has responded very positively to the various opportunities provided or the

development o RES. Many companies have already applied or the various photovoltaic and

wind arm projects, as well as or the production o energy through biouels.

No wind arms are currently operating in Cyprus, but nevertheless, the special RES und has

pre-approved the installation o wind arms totalling Mw. The main obstacles to the

development o these arms are: (a) the limited potential or wind energy generation, (b) land

planning problems, and (c) oppositions o local communities.

More than . Mw o PV systems have been installed so ar in Cyprus, which ranks the country

th in the EU regarding the per capita production o electricity using solar energy. Mainobstacles to the development o PV systems have been the ollowing: (a) low eciency, (b)

high capital investment (very high initial cost), and (c) need o very high subsidies in order to

be (individually) viable.

Although some reports suggest negative efect o biouels to automotive engines, Cyprus

has to proceed with a % substitution o ossil uels with biouels by . One company

has been registered or the production o biouels (, lt. or the year ). The main

obstacles Cyprus aces in meeting the biouels target are the ollowing: (a) limited suitable

agricultural land, (b) water scarcity, (c) high dependence on imports to satisy the targets,

and (d) high cost o imports. The use o biouels produced by genetically modied plants is

prohibited 140.



. Energy Sustainability: Current Situation in the Turkish Cypriot Community

As a recent study on the current state o energy eciency and renewable energy in the

northern part o Cyprus points out, ‘none o the provisions o the main EU Directives on

energy (electricity and gas markets Directive, requirement or days oil stocks, RES Directive,

Energy Services Directive, Buildings Energy Perormance Directive, Energy Labeling o Devices,

etc.) is in orce in the northern part o the island’ 141. More signicantly, the local regulatory

ramework or energy in general is ‘elementary’ 14. As an academic specialized on energy issues

commented in our interview, the most evident setback in the northern part o Cyprus as ar as

the energy sector is concerned, is the lack o a legal ramework regulating the production and

distribution o energy in general, and renewable energy in particular 143.

To address this problem, the Turkish Cypriot administration established the Energy EciencyAgency in January . The Agency is tasked ‘to raise awareness about more ecient use

o energy, and to work on determining new energy policies’ 144. The agency is comprised o

representatives rom diferent proessional associations, and universities as well as Kib-Tek

(Turkish Cypriot Electricity Authority). Although this issue has been on the agenda o the

‘parliament’ or a long time, legislators are yet to nalize their deliberations regarding the long

expected legislation, the drat or which has been prepared in a participatory manner.

In the absence o a regulatory ramework, the vast potential o renewable energy sources

– solar heated rootop hot water systems aside 145 - has not been utilized. As a rather late

rst initiative, a pilot project -solar PV plant- is being implemented with the EU’s nancial

assistance near Serhatkoy. Although the plant, which will have a capacity o . Mw, wasinitially scheduled to go online in June , at the time o writing its construction was still in

progress 146. Reportedly, the administration is planning to commission private companies to

establish another - Mw capacity in the same region 147.

When it comes to the utilization o renewable energy sources, the private sector’s role has

also been very limited. Although there are a ew companies active in the sector, the of-grid

solar energy capacity they have installed so ar is estimated to be around . Mw 148. According

to private sector representatives, the biggest handicap hindering the development o the

sector is the absence o government incentives 149: ‘the average cost o a PV system is -

thousand dollars, and without long-term subsidised credit opportunities, demand is doomed

to be minimal; this is the biggest challenge we have at the moment’ says an entrepreneur in

the sector. He urges the government to pass the legislation, which has been in the pipeline

or months, ‘as soon as possible’. ‘Statements like “we’ll promote solar energy,” is making the

potential buyers postpone their purchasing decisions,’ he says ‘urther deteriorating the

already dismal situation in the market’ 150.

141 The Energy II – Demand-side management - Public awareness campaign. http://www.eicient-energy-use.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=&Itemid=&lang=en (accessed June ).

142 Ibid.143 Cyprus Interview, February .144 Havadis: Enerji Verimlilik Ajansi Kuruldu, January .145 According to Ali Korakan, the president o Energy Proessionals Association, as their technology is rom -’s, the eiciency o

these systems is quite low, and hence, they should be replaced by more eicient ones (Presentation made at the Cyprus ClimateConerence, November ).

146 Halkın Sesi: Güneş Enerjisi Santrali, Haziran’da devreye girecek, December .147 Ibid.148 Cyprus Interview, January .149 Cyprus Interview, January .150 Cyprus Interview, January .


http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/navigating-the-paradigm-shift 33/104ENERGY SUSTAINABILITY: CURRENT SITUATION IN THE TURKISH CYPRIOT COMMUNITY 33

151 Kibris: Ekonomik lamba seçimine ve dağıtımına dikkat edilmeli, January .152 Halkın Sesi: Güneş Enerjisi Santrali, Haziran’da devreye girecek, December .153 Ayse Tokel, presentation made at the Cyprus Climate Change Conerence, Nicosia, November .154 Halkın Sesi: Güneş Enerjisi Santrali, Haziran’da devreye girecek, December .155 http://www.eicient-energy-use.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=&Itemid=&lang=tr (accessed on

June ). According to the same sources, the established capacity is MW.156 Cyprus Interview, January .157 PFAA (Programme or the Future Adoption o the Acquis), Nicosia, January , p. .158 http://www.abhaber.com/haber.php?id= (accessed on June ).

As or energy eciency, one o the rare, concrete steps so ar taken was the government’s

decision to distribute thousand energy-ecient light bulbs in . The efort was

welcomed not only by the public but also by experts 151.

Kib-Tek also has recently started installing ‘smart meters’, which will make it possible or

households to sell excess energy they produce at home back to the grid. Kib-Tek is expectedto complete replacing thousand mechanical meters by 15.

As or the current electricity production, the northern part o Cyprus relies solely on thermal

plants 153. The established capacity is around . Mw 154. Mw o this capacity belongs to

AKSA, a privately owned Turkish company 155.

At around -%, the eciency o these plants is quite low 156. Furthermore, the quality o

uel used, ‘heavy uel oil No. ’ is also quite low. According to the Programme or the Future

Adoption o the Acquis (PFAA), the administration is aiming to develop ‘a new strategy or

importing a higher quality heavy uel oil’ 157. There are also major ineciencies in transmission

lines, according to the various stakeholders interviewed.

In an efort to solve the energy shortage problem o the northern part o Cyprus once and

or all, the Energy Minister o Turkey initiated a easibility study to evaluate the prospects o

realizing interconnectivity between Turkey, and the northern part o Cyprus 158. The result o

this study is yet to be disclosed.



. Energy Sustainability: Future Directions or Cyprus

Several meetings o energy stakeholders, including Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot energy

experts, environmentalists and entrepreneurs active in the energy sector, were convenedby the Cyprus initiative in February and March . The stakeholders were presented

with the research ndings o Cyprus staf in relation to global trends, EU polices and

current situation in Cyprus, and were asked, on the basis o this situation, to ormulate

relevant policy recommendations or the uture o Cyprus. The ollowing is a summary o their

recommendations, and accompanying rationale:

.. An issue o averting climate change or securing energy

supplies?

A undamental prerequisite or an integrated energy strategy is conceptualizing the problem

in its correct dimensions. Seen rom a viewpoint o energy security, the problem is one o

ensuring that Cyprus will avoid the risk o inadequate or excessively priced energy, such

that would impact the unctioning o the economy but also the daily lie o citizens. Seen

rom a climate change viewpoint, the problem is one o averting the negative impact on the

environment that arises rom unsustainable energy production practices.

While in the context o an energy security narrative Cyprus is in a similar situation as most other

developed countries, in relation to the problem o climate change Cyprus is in a paradoxical

position: On the one hand, as a small country it has a comparatively small impact on global

climate change, however unsustainable energy production practices in Cyprus may be. On

the other hand, Cyprus – as a small island state under the threat o desertication – will be

one o the rst to sufer rom a global climate change. Rising water levels would decimate

coastal areas while rising temperatures would catalyze the already unsettling process o

desertication.

Seen rom this viewpoint, unsustainable energy production practices in large industrial nations

around the globe are very much a concern o Cyprus. Even as Cyprus works to ensure energy

security through a local conversion to sustainable and reliable sources o energy, it should

devote extensive resources towards contributing to the global sustainable energy agenda.

Island states within the EU should establish a platorm to jointly undertake a leading positionin promoting the issue o rising sea levels, putting it orward as a moral issue on behal o

island-states world-wide. Cyprus could take the initiative in proposing the establishment o

such a platorm.

.. Developing an island-wide energy strategy

An island-wide energy strategy is urgent and essential, regardless o the outcome o the

current inter-communal talks. An island-wide energy strategy should include plans, not only to

increase sustainable energy production, but also to reduce energy consumption and increase

energy eciency. Additionally, it should be based on orecasts o energy requirements over

the coming decades, utilize a broad portolio o energy sources, especially solar energy or

which Cyprus has very high potential, and aim towards the creation o a smart island-wide


http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/navigating-the-paradigm-shift 35/104ENERGY SUSTAINABILITY: FUTURE DIRECTIONS FOR CYPRUS 35

energy grid. This energy strategy should be ambitious in proposing a rapid transition to

renewable energy sources, at a rate that is even aster than the planned EU average, given

Cyprus’ small size and thereore small number o inrastructural projects that are required to

make the transition.

Establishing an ultimate target or % renewable energy generation, ater the precedent o

Australia which has already established a target or % renewable energy within years,

should also be an element o Cyprus’ strategy, thus setting an example or the rest o the EU to

ollow. The incorporation o cogeneration technologies to increase the eciency o existing

power plants, seen as a transitional measure or the period when we still rely on the existing

power plants, should also be a part o this energy strategy. Importing renewable energy rom

neighboring countries can also be a valid component o Cyprus’ renewable energy strategy.

To ensure that this transition takes place smoothly and with the minimum o economic or

social upheaval, the ollowing principles should guide the planning process:

•Cypriot energy to be provided entirely rom renewable and other non-carbon emittingsources at the end o a transition period.

• Use o proven technological solutions only, which are reliable and commercially available.

• Security and reliability o Cyprus energy supply to be enhanced during transition process.

• Food and water security to be maintained or enhanced during transition.

• Cypriots to continue to enjoy a high standard o living.

• Social equity maintained or enhanced by the transition.

• In case o delayed comprehensive solution, bi-communal cooperation in energy to be

enhanced during transition.

• External current account balance and national debt to be maintained or improved by end

o transition.

• Design to maximize number o productive Cypriot jobs during and ater the transition.

Such an island-wide energy strategy must be designed together by the two communities,

while the design and implementation process would be most efective i it takes place in

parallel, both at a civil society level and at the ocial level, with the two levels co-operating

closely and reinorcing each other’s work. At the civil society level, existing environmental

initiatives along with stakeholders and experts could co-operate to put together a proposal

or an energy blueprint, to be submitted to the leaderships o the two communities or

ratication. At the ocial level, a suitably mandated technical committee under the auspices

o the Leaders o the two communities could be tasked with planning an island-wide energy

strategy 159. In case there is a comprehensive settlement in the mean time, responsibility or the

implementation o the energy strategy would be transerred to the new Federal administration.

I in contrast a comprehensive settlement is delayed, then the agreed island-wide strategy can

be implemented separately by appropriate authorities in the two communities under the

supervision o the aorementioned inter-communal technical committee, until such time as a

comprehensive settlement is ound.

159 Speciically, the existing Technical Committee on the Environment could establish an Energy Task Force with the mandate o developing such an island-wide energy strategy.



.. Building condence in peace through energyco-operation

Cooperation on energy issues, and particularly sustainability in energy production, can serveas a symbol or a cooperative and dynamic uture, even beore an integrated energy strategy

as proposed above is designed and implemented. Specically, we propose the ollowing three

projects, which could be taken up without delay by the leaderships o the two communities,

the EU, the UN, and any other actors willing to be o help:

A Solar Thermal Power Plant in the buer zone. Experts agree that Cyprus is in a unique position to

benet rom solar thermal power generation, a highly ecient power generation technology

that could potentially produce desalinated water as well as electricity, with virtually no

ongoing inputs other than seawater and sunlight. A small number o such power plants could

completely cover the electricity generation needs o the whole island. The greatest challenges

o solar-thermal are, rstly, the large quantity o land that is required to lay out the mirror array,which is why in other countries such plants are usually located in deserts, and secondly, the

large initial cost o laying out the mirror array. It is proposed that planning could go ahead or a

solar thermal power plant that would be located in the bufer zone not ar rom the coast so as

to ensure access to seawater, with the cooperation o the leaderships o the two communities,

and with an inter-communal business consortium unding the project, which would then

provide electricity (and perhaps water) to the grids o both communities 160.

A grant scheme or private sector co-operation in the feld o sustainable energy production. Such

a scheme could be unded by the EU or the UN, a pooled und in which both communities

would contribute, or rom private or other third party donations. Funded businesses would

have to demonstrate that they are owned and managed by members o both communities,that their activities all within the elds o promoting energy eciency or producing energy

by renewable sources, and that they make their services available in both communities. The

grant scheme could be managed inter-communally under the auspices o the leaders o the

two communities at a technical committee level.

An inter-communal research and development unit or energy sustainability. Such a unit could

build on the success o other research centers and initiatives that operate successully with

participation rom both communities and utilize already existing scientic and scholarly

know-how. Such a unit could contribute greatly to the cause o converting Cyprus into a

testing ground or the development and practical application o cutting edge technologies

to increase energy eciency and produce energy sustainably through novel and more

ecient means, utilizing unds that will be made available in line with the EU Strategic Energy

Technology Plan as discussed in a previous section. Beyond the specic technological gains

that are expected to arise out o this centre, there are broader benets in bringing together

the scientic minds o the two communities: Enhancing contact, while at the same time

acilitating the process o economic and social convergence o the two communities.

160 Some private sector actors have already approached UNFICYP or planning permission. The Cyprus Institute (http://eewrc.cyi.ac.cy/) has already worked out the technical details and is implementing a easibility study or a solar-thermal acility that would alsoproduce desalinated water, with EU unds (http://eewrc.cyi.ac.cy/CSP-DSW/CSP-DSW). The US Bi-Communal Support Programmehas already launched a competition in or an island-wide solar park, however it seems it met with limited success.



PART II

Water Sustainability


http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/navigating-the-paradigm-shift 39/104GLOBAL TRENDS IN WATER SUSTAINABILITY 39

‘Til taught by pain, men really know not what good water is worth’ 161.

. Global Trends in Water Sustainability

Water, an indispensable element or all orms o lie, is also ‘the primary medium through

which climate change inuences the Earth's ecosystems and thereore people’s livelihoods

and well-being’ according to the UN-Water, an inter-agency mechanism ormally established

in by the UN High Level Committee on Programmes. Climate change is expected to

inuence the resh water systems mainly in three ways: Due to increase in temperature; rise in

sea level; and increased precipitation variability 16.

Increase in temperature has already been leading to the melting o glaciers at ‘an alarming

and ever accelerating rate’ 163, and causing ‘snow to all as rain’ 164. ‘Snow and ice are natural

regulators, storing water in winter and releasing it in summer’ 165. In their absence, thereore,

‘countries are swinging more violently between ood and drought’ 166. The Himalaya glaciers,

or instance, which constitutes ‘the largest body o ice outside the poles,’ and supplies water

to a population o billion, is losing about percent o its ice each year, and ‘may completely

disappear as early as ’ 167.

As regards to increase in sea level, the IPCC predicts ‘a rise o . – .m increase by in

the most optimistic scenario and . – .m in the most pessimistic’ 168. This is expected to

‘extend areas o salinization o groundwater and estuaries, resulting in a decrease in reshwater

availability or humans and ecosystems in coastal areas’ 169. Furthermore, this will threatenthe habitats o some low-lying regions, like Tuvalu, an island state in Pacic, ‘which is already

experiencing severe ooding which is damaging … homes and afecting drinking water’ 170.

Speeding up o the hydrologic cycle 171 —‘that is, the rate at which water evaporates and alls

again as rain or snow,’ is another consequence o climate change. Simply put, this is rendering

‘wet regions more sodden, and arid ones drier, and bringing longer droughts between more

intense periods o rain’ 17. There are already many tangible examples: Australia – the world's

driest inhabited continent- was recently struck by a decade-long drought; worst in a century

173, ollowed by a ood 174. ‘Although ew scientists are condent that they can ascribe any

individual event (like this) to global warming,’ the Economist comments, ‘most agree that

droughts … will become more common’ 175.

Semi-arid and arid areas like the Mediterranean basin ‘are particularly exposed to the impacts

o climate change on reshwater’ 176. According to the World Water Development Report,

161 Lord Byron.162 Kundzewicz et. al.,: .163 Human Impact Report: Climate Change — The Anatomy o a Silent Crisis, the Global Humanitarian Forum, Geneva, , p. .164 Sin aqua non, The Economist, April, .165 Ibid.166 Ibid.167 The Anatomy o a Silent Crisis, p. .168 http://www.bbc.co.uk/climate/impact/sea_level.shtml (accessed ..)169 Kundzewicz et. al.,: .170 http://www.bbc.co.uk/climate/impact/sea_level.shtml (accessed ..)171 Houghton deines it as ‘(t)he exchange o water between the atmosphere, the land and the oceans’ (: ).172 Sin aqua non.173 Ibid.174 Australia's Floods: The Drought Ends, the Shouting Starts, The Economist, April .175 The Big Dry, The Economist, April .176 Kundzewicz et. al.,: .



Southern Mediterranean ecosystems risk losing -% o species even i the target o limiting

the temperature rise to degrees will be achieved 177.

As it is in the case o energy, climate change is not the only actor that we have to take into

consideration when investigating the issue o water. There are also non-climatic actors

‘signicantly or even dramatically’ afecting water resources 178. These non-climatic actorshave much to do with demographic (population growth) and economic growth (changes in

consumption patterns; increasing urbanization; changing liestyles; land use changes) 179. To

tackle this triple challenge, we need to strike a balance between our undamental needs, and

‘our collective pursuit o higher living standards’ on the one hand, and ‘the need or water to

sustain our planet ’s ragile ecosystems’, on the other. 180

In the last years the amount o water used trebled, while the world’s population rose to

. billion rom billion, and it is projected to rise urther to . billion by , pushing the

demand or resh water even higher 181. What really makes the diference, however, is not the

absolute numbers, but diet, which basically constitutes the most important single actor in

water demand 18.

Diferent oods require radically diferent amounts o water. To grow a kilogram o wheat

requires around , litres. But it takes as much as , litres o water to produce a kilo o

bee. The meaty diet o Americans and Europeans requires around , litres o water a day to

produce. The vegetarian diets o Arica and Asia use about , litres a day (or comparison,

Westerners use just - litres a day in drinking and washing). So the shit rom vegetarian

diets to meaty ones … has big implications or water… In Chinese people ate, on

average, kg o meat; this year (), they will eat around kg. This diference translates

into km (km is trillion litres) o water—almost as much as total water use in Europe.

The shit o diet will be impossible to reverse since it is a product o rising wealth and

urbanization. In general, “water intensity” in ood increases astest as people begin to climbout o poverty, because that is when they start eating more meat. So i living standards in

the poorest countries start to rise, water use is likely to soar. Moreover, almost all the billion

people who will be added to the world’s population between now and are going to be

third-world city dwellers—and city people use more water than rural olk. The FAO reckons

that, without changes in eciency, the world will need as much as % more water or

agriculture to eed those billion extra mouths. That is roughly ,km o the stuf—as

much as is currently used or all purposes in the world outside Asia 183.

Growing stress on surace water (mostly rivers, lakes, and reservoirs) due to increasing demand or

agricultural products made groundwater (aquiers) seem to be a ‘miraculous solution’ 184. However,

groundwater is being withdrawn ‘at a rate much aster than the aquiers are recharged’ 185. Inmajor cities like Mexico City, Bangkok, Buenos Aires, and Jakarta aquiers are under immense

stress 186. Same applies to the aquiers on which armers depend. ‘Farmers around the world…

have been sinking millions o bore wells and pumping water out o once plentiul groundwater

aquiers at an astounding rate’ 187. India alone, which had about million bore wells by ,

pumps km3 each year, which represents over a quarter o the world total 188.

177 World Water Development Report , p. .178 Kuylenstierna.179 See Kuylenstierna; Kundzewicz et. al.,.180 UN , p. xx.181 Sin aqua non.

182 Ibid.183 Sin aqua non.184 For Want o a Drink.185 Sachs, : .186 For Want o a Drink.187 Sachs, : .188 Making Farmers Matter, Special Report on Water, The Economist, May .



189 Sachs, : .190 Making Farmers Matter.191 ‘In Britain, or example, arming takes only % o all water withdrawals. In the United States, by contrast, % goes or agriculture,

almost all o it or irrigation. In China arming takes nearly %, and in India nearer %’ (For Want o a Drink, A Special Report onWater, The Economist, May ).

192 For want o a drink, A Special Report on Water, The Economist, May .193 Priceless194 Jerry Silver: Global Warming and Climate Change Demystiied, McGraw Hill, , p. .195 Priceless; see also Sachs, : .196 Awash in waste, The Economist, April .197 Awash in waste.198 ‘The global average withdrawal o resh water was % o the amount that lowed through the world’s hydrologic cycle. Both Latin

America and Arica used less than %’ (Sin aqua non, The Economist, April ).199 Tapping the Oceans.200 Irrigate and Die, the Economist, July .201 Cited in Irrigate and Die, The Economist, July .202 Cited in A Water Warning, The Economist, November .

Though bore wells were an essential part o the Green Revolution, particularly in India, the

indiscriminate use o and unregulated access to groundwater resources is putting entire

aquiers in peril. The over pumping not only leads to the disappearance o the resource, it also

has urther harmul consequences. It can lead to land subsidence – literally collapse o the

land above the aquiers – a phenomenon that is increasingly requent in major cities such asBeijing. It can also lead to the contamination o those aquiers with salt water, the salination

and poisoning o soils, and collapse o aquiers that reduces their storage capacity 189.

In the village o Bhutal Kalan in Sangrur district (India), or instance, the armers complain not

just o water levels dropping by two metres ater each o the two harvests a year but also o

uorosis, which may cause mottling o the teeth and skin, or, in its skeletal orm, arthritic pain

and bone deormities. Cancer is also rising, which the armers blame on the natural poisons

and on pesticides…’ 190.

At around percent, agriculture represents the lion’s share o the global water demand 191.

Industry, and domestic activities, on the other hand, account or and percent respectively,

and the combined demand emanating rom these two latter categories ‘quadrupled in thesecond hal o the th century, growing twice as ast as those o arming, and orecasters see

nothing but urther increases in demand on all ronts’ 19.

.. Sustainable Water Management

Although its supply is nite, in act, ‘water is by ar the commonest substance on earth’ 193.

Almost ‘ percent o the earth’s surace is covered with water’ 194. The problem is only

percent o it is o use or human consumption, as % o the total is seawater, and two thirdo what is let is ‘locked up in glaciers or ice and snow around the poles’ 195. Even so, should it

be managed properly the remaining percent would be enough. Indeed, globally speaking,

‘there is no shortage o water ’ 196. ‘On average, people are extracting or their own uses less than

a tenth o what alls as rain and snow each year’ 197 198. In this sense, it would be inaccurate to

say that there is a global water shortage crisis. This is not to deny that there are many shortage

problems at regional levels. Currently, ‘more than one billion people live in areas where water

is scarce’ 199. However, the act that even places like Cherrapunji, Bangladesh, which is ‘ocially

the wettest place on earth’, are sufering requent water shortages 00, makes scholars like

Sumita Dasgupta o the Centre or Science and Environment in Delhi, think that ‘the problem

is water management, not water scarcity’ 01. There are some businessmen who share the

same conviction, going one step beyond, and compare water with oil: ‘I am convinced that,under present condition and with the way water is being managed’ Peter Brabeck-Letmathe,

chairman o Nestle, observes ‘we will run out o water long beore we run out o uel’ 0.



210 ‘In the world’s impoverished villages … women and girls, … oten spend hours each day walk ing many miles to etch thehousehold’s water supply’ (Sachs, : ). For more on the women’s role in water sector, please see World Water DevelopmentReport, p. .

211 Wilk and Wittgren, : .212 WEF: Rebuilding Water Management, .213 Kundzewicz et. al.,: .214 WEF.215 Sin aqua non.216 Running Dry, The Economist, September .217 Houghton, : .218 Cited in Sina Aqua Non.219 Sachs, : .220 Running Dry.221 For more on dams, please see The Ups and Downs o Dams, A Special Report on Water, The Economist, May .222 Cited in A Soluble Problem, The Economist, July .223 Cited in Running Dry, The Economist, September .224 Sin Aqua Non.225 Sin Aqua Non.

. Women play a central part in the provision, management and saeguarding o water 10.

. Water has an economic value in all its competing uses and should be recognized as an

economic good 11.

Another, somewhat more specic set o principles to increase the eciency o water use

was identied by the World Economic Forum: ‘raise awareness, reduce leakages, maximize

recycling, price water adequately and redirect the implicit and explicit subsidies to water

demand to measures that reduce water demand’ 1. Furthermore, although it is a controversial

issue, desalination can also be seen as an instrument o sustainable water management as

long as the energy used in the desalination process comes rom renewable sources 13, and

brine is disposed o properly. Although there are no one-size-ts-all policy prescriptions, the

exchange o best practices is clearly crucial 14. In what ollows, some o these measures will

be briey discussed.

Evidently, agriculture, which accounts or -% o the demand, is like ‘Agasthya, the mythical

Indian giant who drank the seas dry,’ 15 and improving irrigation practices can play a majorrole in tackling the ineciency o water use. ‘As much as % o water used by armers never

gets to crops, perhaps lost through leaky irrigation channels or by draining into rivers or

groundwater’ 16; or through evaporation and seepage 17. Improving irrigation practices can

increase water eciency by %, according to Chandra Madramootoo o the International

Commission on Irrigation and Drainage 18. ‘The simple, afordable, and proven technology’ o

drip irrigation, which involves bringing ‘a constant, low pressure stream o very small amounts

o water directly to the crop roots,’ ‘instead o ooding a eld or bringing water to it via canals

in which water can pool and evaporate’ is a signicant tool in this regard 19.

Evaporation o water in dams is another actor causing waste o water, and it can be avoided

by ‘pumping water into natural aquiers or seasonal storage’ 0. This does not only avoidwaste, but also stands as a cheaper alternative to building dams – which is a highly contested

issue 1.

According to Mark Zeitoun o the London School o Economics, ‘agriculture is responsible or

the greatest waste o water, largely because o government subsidies’ . ‘Substituting thirsty

crops such as oranges with more abstemious olives and dates’ in arid regions like the Middle

East can be a remedy, he suggests: ‘Ideally, countries that are short o water would concentrate

on growing the most valuable cash crops, and use the proceeds to import staples’ 3. Mexico,

or instance, is saving billion m o water by importing cereals rom the US, instead o growing

them itsel 4. However, this is more like an exception than the rule in international trade.

As ‘most water use is not measured, let alone priced, trade rarely reects water scarcities’ 5.Consequently, armers don’t mind growing thirsty crops like alala in arid Caliornia. Similarly,



although growing wheat in India and Brazil consumes twice as much water compared to the

US and China, these countries continue growing wheat, and ‘dry countries like Pakistan export

textiles though a kg bolt o cloth requires , litres o water’ 6.

Another option to increase the eciency o water use is to ‘engineer crop varieties that need

less water and can thrive in drought-prone areas’ 7. According to Sachs spectacular resultshave already been achieved in early scientic trials to transer genes rom drought resistant

natural varieties to ood crops 8. Additionally, it is important to achieve a better understanding

o soil structures and soil ecosystems. Plants don’t grow in a vacuum independently o soil

microorganisms. One commonly used approach in organic arming is to inoculate plant roots

with mycorrhizal ungi, which orm a naturally-occurring symbiosis with plant roots, resulting

in better soil water retention, as well as more ecient water use by the plants, thus enabling

signicant drought tolerance.

The crux o the issue lies in the pricing o water. ‘In all o these cases,’ Sachs says, ‘a price or use

o water (together with a lieline tarif) is needed to help induce armers to shit rom overuse

o water supplies to sustainable use based on high crop per drop technologies’ 9.

Just as with low carbon technologies, it will be one thing to develop water-ecient seed

varieties and more ecient irrigation methods, and quite another to have the technology

accepted. To get these methods adopted in the place o unsustainable groundwater

harvesting, armers will need to have a market incentive. For the poorest o the poor, this

might be a subsidy or grant or the improved technology. For richer armers, it should be the

contrary: a price o water tarif that reects the true social costs o drawing unsustainably on

groundwater or river-based irrigation 30.

Indeed, there are many pundits who agree that more ecient use o water depends on

pricing it properly 31. However, there is a resistance against this approach on the grounds

that as ‘humans cannot live without water, it should be a basic human right, available to all,preerably or nothing’ 3. Furthermore, armers who are enjoying zero or near-zero rates are

also resisting the idea 33, making efective pricing quite dicult, and rare.

Nonetheless, there are some success stories. One o these rare cases is Chile: Instead o

providing subsidies to keep down water tarifs in general, a policy, which avors the well-of

more than others, Chile is charging the ull cost o water, while providing the poor with stamps

to redeem against their bills 34. South Arica is another similar and successul case. With a

water law passed in , the government took over the ull control o the country’s water,

‘abolished previous riparian rights, made water allocations both temporary and tradable, and

required ull costs to be charged to all users except or the very poorest’ 35.

To make pricing o water politically less problematic, the WEF suggests redirecting the implicit

subsidies to water consumption into other means, which will benet the consumers. For

instance, instead o giving them ree water, giving the armers ree acilities or drip irrigation 36.

As pricing water keeps bumping to the political barriers, a practical alternative is emerging in

Australia. This is a system called the tradable usage rights, which resembles to the cap-and-

trade system discussed in the energy section. It works as ollows:

226 Awash in Waste.227 Sachs, : .228 : .229 Sachs, : .

230 Sachs, : -.231 A Soluble Problem, The Economist, July .232 Awash in Waste, The Economist, April .233 Awash in Waste.234 Liquid Assets, The Economist, July .235 Liquid Assets.236 WEF



. European Policies or Water Sustainability

Even though we can only directly use about % o Earth's surace water resources, many

orms o human activity put the total o water resources under considerable pressure. Pollutedwater, whatever the source o the pollution, ows, one way or another, back into our natural

surroundings – into the sea or water tables – rom where it can have a harmul efect on human

health and the environment. One o the most important pieces o European legislation in this

area is the Water Framework Directive.

.. Water Framework Directive (//EC) 47

By means o this Framework Directive, the EU provides or the management o inland surace

waters, groundwater, transitional waters and coastal waters in order to prevent and reduce

pollution, promote sustainable water use, protect the aquatic environment, improve the

status o aquatic ecosystems and mitigate the efects o oods and droughts.

Identication and analysis o waters

The Member States have to identiy all the river basins lying within their national territory and

assign them to individual river basin districts. River basins covering the territory o more than

one Member State will be assigned to an international river basin district. By December

at the latest, a competent authority will be designated or each o the river basin districts.

Within our years ater the date o entry into orce o this Directive, Member States must

complete an analysis o the characteristics o each river basin district, a review o the impact

o human activity on water and an economic analysis o water use, while compiling a register

o areas requiring special protection. All bodies o water used or the abstraction o water

intended or human consumption providing more than cubic metres a day on average, or

serving more than ty persons, must be identied.

Management and protection measures

Nine years ater the date o entry into orce o the Directive, a management plan and

programme o measures must be produced or each river basin district, taking account o the

results o the analyses and studies carried out.

The measures provided or in the river basin management plan seek to: (a) prevent

deterioration, enhance and restore bodies o surace water, achieve good chemical and

ecological status o such water and reduce pollution rom discharges and emissions o

hazardous substances; (b) protect, enhance and restore all bodies o groundwater, prevent

the pollution and deterioration o groundwater, and ensure a balance between groundwater

abstraction and replenishment; and (c) preserve protected areas.

The abovementioned objectives have to be achieved no later than teen years ater the

date o entry into orce o the Directive, but this deadline may be extended, albeit under theconditions laid down by the Directive.

247 http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/water-ramework/index_en.html (accessed on nd October ).


http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/navigating-the-paradigm-shift 47/104EUROPEAN POLICIES FOR WATER SUSTAINABILITY 47

The Member States will encourage the active involvement o all interested parties in the

implementation o this Directive, in particular as regards the river basin management plans.

A temporary deterioration o bodies o water is not in breach o the requirements o this

Directive i it is the result o circumstances which are exceptional or could not reasonably have

been oreseen and which are due to an accident, natural causes or orce majeure.

From , Member States must ensure that water pricing policies provide adequate incentives

or users to use water resources eciently and that the various economic sectors contribute

to the recovery o the costs o water services, including those relating to the environment and

resources.

Member States must introduce arrangements to ensure that efective, proportionate and

dissuasive penalties are imposed in the event o breaches o the provisions o this Framework

Directive.

A list o priority substances selected rom among the ones which present a signicant risk

to the aquatic environment has been drawn up using a combined monitoring-based and

modelling-based procedure. This list is set out in Annex X to the Directive. Control measures

or these priority substances and quality standards or concentrations o the substances have

also been proposed.

Administrative measures

No later than twelve years ater the date o entry into orce o this Directive and every six years

thereater, the Commission will publish a report on its implementation. The Commission will

convene, at the appropriate time, a conerence o interested parties on Community water

policy which will involve Member States, representatives rom the competent authorities, the

European Parliament, NGOs, social and economic partners, consumer bodies, academics and

other experts.

The Water Framework Directive establishes a legal ramework to guarantee sucient

quantities o good quality water across Europe. Its key aims are to (a) expand water protection

to all waters (inland and coastal surace waters and groundwater), (b) achieve “good status”

or all waters by , (c) base water management on river basins, (d) combine emission limit

values with environmental quality standards, (e) ensure that water prices provide adequate

incentives or water users to utilize resources eciently, () involve citizens more closely, and

(g) streamline legislation.

River Basin Management Plans

River Basin Management Plans are a requirement o the Water Framework Directive and

a means o achieving the protection, improvement and sustainable use o the water

environment across Europe. This includes surace reshwaters (including lakes, streams and

rivers), groundwater, ecosystems such as some wetlands that depend on groundwater,

estuaries and coastal waters out to one nautical mile.

The Directive requires member states to aim to achieve at least good status in each water

body within their river basin districts. Each member state must produce a plan or each o theriver basin districts within its territory.

Plans must include: objectives or each water body; reasons or not achieving objectives

where relevant; and the programme o actions required to meet the objectives.



These plans, which are due by December , will bring urther real improvements or the

whole water system in the orm o programmes o measures, which must be operational by

and deliver the environmental objectives o the Directive by .

Recommendations to Member States – Time to act until 009

Member States have to complete the rst river basin management plans by the end o ,

and they have to put a water pricing policy in place in . Learning rom experience with

implementation to date, there is still ample time to improve the situation and close gaps

on data. Moreover, the obligation to inorm and consult the public when preparing the

management plans will require more transparency and justication on what measures are

necessary and cost-efective, and what exemptions can be justied.

The Commission thereore urges the Member States to ocus especially on the ollowing three

areas:

Overcoming the current shortcomings. To reach this objective, Member States are encouraged

to: (a) ully implement other relevant EU legislation, in particular on urban wastewater and

nitrates; (b) put in place all the economic instruments required by the Directive (pricing,

recovery o costs o water services, environment and resource costs, and the polluter pays

principle). Full exploitation o these economic instruments will contribute to truly sustainable

water management; (c) put in place a comprehensive national ecological assessment and

classication system as the basis or implementing the Directive and meeting its “good

ecological status” objective. The deciencies o the current inter-calibration exercise must

be remedied as soon as possible. Only complete, robust and reliable ecological assessment

will generate aith in the WFD and ensure its credibility; (d) improve the methodologies and

approaches on some key issues (such as designation o heavily modied water bodies, criteria

or assessing risk or addressing groundwater quantitative status) and enhance comparability

between the Member States, in particular in international river basins; (e) considerably reduce

the existing data gaps and shortcomings o the Article analysis as part o preparation o the

river basin management plans.

Integrating sustainable water management into other policy areas. To reach this objective,

Member States are encouraged to: (a) make sure that inrastructure and sustainable human

development projects, which could cause deterioration o the aquatic environment, undergo

an appropriate environmental impact assessment; (b) ensure the allocation o the appropriate

unding. To reach this objective, it is important to make the best use o the potential o national unds and EU nancing instruments, such as the Common Agricultural Policy and

the Cohesion Policy. The national allocations so ar o these unds or improvements in the

water eld are insucient to cover all needs as identied in the ndings o the environmental

analysis under the WFD.

Making the best use o public participation. Public participation should be seen as an opportunity.

The ongoing work on voluntary reporting and the Water Inormation System or Europe will

assist in inorming the public in a transparent way.


http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/navigating-the-paradigm-shift 49/104WATER SUSTAINABILITY: CURRENT SITUATION IN THE GREEK CYPRIOT COMMUNITY 49

Current desalination units Daily capacity (m3) Notes

Dekeleia ,

Larnaca ,

Moni , Shall close in years

Garyllis , Shall close in years

Total 15,000

. Water Sustainability: Current Situation in theGreek Cypriot Community

One denition o sustainable water management is to achieve a state whereby permanent

reserves o underground water are replenished at a aster rate than they are consumed.

This has not been happening in Cyprus over the last years. Underground water reserves

are categorized in permanent reserves – ‘deep’ aquiers - and renewable reserves – that are

renewed annually by rainall and other processes. Back in the s, Cyprus started studying

the possibility o utilizing underground water reserves and aquiers. Initially, water was being

extracted rom renewable reserves, which is a sustainable practice. Since the s though,

the development o Cyprus was based on water extracted rom permanent reserves. Even by

the ’s this practise resulted to the salting o underground aquiers. Principles o sustainable

water management indicate that permanent reserves should only be used in years o extreme

drought, but that was obviously not ollowed in Cyprus.

Plans or the construction o large water dams started in the s in order to collect surace

waters. It was only ater though that the construction o water dams began to increase.

Those dams were designed to cover or the increasing decit o underground reserves.

Nevertheless, due to unexpected demand - it is estimated that an average o % o Cyprus’

water reserves are used or agricultural purposes - as well as a statistically proven reduction

o rainall ater the s, the newly built dams did not collect the necessary quantities and

thereore could not match the increased demand. The design o dams was prepared in the

late ’s when rainall was still at high levels. As a result, water dams did not solve the

problem and permanent underground reserves were urther utilised 48. Furthermore, the

dams have had a negative environmental impact because the downstream rivers have dried

out leading to some biodiversity loss o reshwater vertebrates and invertebrates as well as

increased coastal erosion.

.. Current Desalination Practices

Until the main source o water in Cyprus was rainall. That year, the rst desalination

unit was built as a response to the unsatisactory coverage o demand rom water dams. The

current desalination units along with their respective daily production capacity are presentedin the ollowing table:

248 Cyprus interview, Costas Constantinou, Head o Hydrogeology Sector, Geological Survey Department, Nicosia, January.



In , the government decided to totally cease any dependence o the town watering

system on climatic conditions. The goal is to be able to cover the maximum demand which

occurs in July; thereore, during the other months there is to be an excess production

which will be stored in dams. As a result, it was decided to urther increase the production

o desalinated water with the construction o new units and the expansion o capacity o existing ones. All projected desalination units along with their daily capacity or desalinated

water is presented in the ollowing table:

There was also a plan or the development o a oating desalination plant but it was abandoned

due to technical problems and higher projected costs. Fossil-uel-based desalination is not

considered a sustainable practice due to the high energy consumption o the process –

the current plants alone consume about -% o total energy used in Cyprus. Nevertheless,

desalination is seen as a necessary evil since a choice has to be made between the coverageo water needs and the environmental costs o the process. The question, as posed by one

stakeholder, should not be whether desalination is needed but how many desalination units

are really needed 49.

.. Solar-thermal desalination parks

As a solution to the sustainability problems that desalination projects ace, solar thermal parks

are being proposed to desalinate water with the use o renewable energy sources. The Cyprus

Institute along with Harvard University have prepared a easibility study o a project or the

implementation o a solar-thermal park that will produce desalinated water and energy. A

similar park is operating in Seville, Spain which only produces energy. The project is estimated

to cost around € million and the probable location o the project is the Pentakomo area.

The high initial investment required or this project constitutes the major problem or its

implementation 50.

249 Cyprus interview, Spyros Steanou, Planning Oice, Water Development Department, Nicosia, September .250 Cyprus stakeholder panel, Nicosia, March .

Future desalination units Daily capacity (m3) Notes

Dekeleia ,

Larnaca ,

Vasiliko/ AHK , Ready in years

Episkopi , Contract is signed – ready by Paphos , Currently , – tender or upgrade

next year

Total 5,000


http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/navigating-the-paradigm-shift 51/104WATER SUSTAINABILITY: CURRENT SITUATION IN THE GREEK CYPRIOT COMMUNITY 51

251 Cyprus interview, Spyros Steanou, Planning Oice, Water Development Department, Nicosia, September .252 Cyprus interview, Costas Constantinou, Head o Hydrogeology Sector, Geological Survey Department, Nicosia, January

.

.. Recycled water

Besides the ollowing sources o water: a) desalinated water, b) underground water, and c)

surace water (e.g. dams), recycled water is also used in Cyprus (coming rom sewage water).

Recycled water is used or irrigation purposes or is washed out to the sea, rivers, etc. Recycling

water is also an expensive process but it’s a process the EU is mandating. Nevertheless, it is not

as polluting as desalination due to the act that recycled water is used or irrigation purposes

and thereore does not require as much pressure treatment through osmosis. During winter a

storage problem or recycled water is observed. A new station or sewage processing is being

planned or Larnaca, where recycled water will be supplied back into the watering grid, while

the stations in Limassol and Paphos are both scheduled or expansion 51.

.. Meeting EU directives

The general guidelines o the EU on the issue o water, as given by the various directives

and mainly the Water Framework Directive, as those were previously described, are: (a) no

degradation o the quality and quantity o waters, (b) conservation o biodiversity, and (c)

ecient pricing policy.

In this respect, the Water Framework Directive requires rom Member States to dene their

river basin districts and prepare a management plan and programme o measures or each

district. The whole island o Cyprus is dened as a single river basin district. The competent

authority or this plan is the Minister o Agriculture while the plan is implemented, among

others, by the ollowing bodies: (a) Water Development Department; (b) Geological Survey

Department; (c) Environmental Service; (d) Department o Agriculture; (e) Department

o Fisheries. The nal report shall be approved by a broader board (public, environmental

organisations, etc.). Although this plan should have been urnished to EC by the end o ,

all Member States seem to have some delays.

This report entails an assessment o the quantity and quality state o waters. For Cyprus the

ollowing give a rough assessment o the current situation 5.

Quantity assessment

a) Underground reserves: the situation is quite bad and their replenishment is an urgentmatter.

Quality assessment

a) Underground reserves: their quality is afected by the salted water aquiers and the

composition o the rocks (i.e. their bad state is not only due to human intervention but

also to physical causes) – their quality improves with the renewal o these waters.

b) Coastal waters: very good state.

c) Surace waters: limited issues (Garyllis river is polluted by the nearby dumpsite o Vati) but

generally in very good state.



The measures included in the Cyprus plan regarding underground reserves move along the

ollowing points: (a) replenishing the permanent underground reserves (with technical means

– probably using recycled water), and (b) reducing the quantities drilled.

Pricing policy is also part o this plan. Currently, water prices in Cyprus cover the costs o

production o water but do not account or the environmental cost o this production. This is

covered in the plan and shall be imposed soon.

The Water Framework Directive with its guidelines and requirements promotes the

sustainability o water resources but does not impose any strict timerames in the production

o results.

.. Water consumption

On the consumption side o the equation, Cypriot citizens seem to retain their consumption

habits despite the scarcity problem. It has been noted numerous times that saving is the

most important parameter in the eforts or correct water management. For years now, the

government through the Water Development Department has been trying to urge Cypriots

on changing habits into more sustainable consumption practices. Nevertheless, public

awareness has a long way to go beore consumers’ sustainable use o water starts contribute

to solving the issue o water management on the island.

.. Agriculture

It is widely believed that no matter how much an efort is made to save water through

households, it won’t solve the country’s water problem. About % o the water resources are

consumed annually by the agricultural sector. One o the main reasons or this is the type o

crops used on the island. Most o them are water-intensive, and in this sense unsuited or the

realities o the Cyprus climate. Until recently, the government has normally been subsidizing

the plantation o such crops, despite the act that they use water ineciently. Nevertheless,

currently there are various subsidy schemes or armers to extract / replace their crops.Additionally, the Cyprus government has signicantly reduced the amount o EU unding that

goes to agricultural activities through the Republic o Cyprus.

Water resources are currently not exclusively managed by a single authority creating problems

in their ecient use. Authorities responsible or the agricultural sector aim the boosting o the

agricultural activities but without taking into account water management issues and without

cooperating with the Water Development Department (WDD) 53.

253 Cyprus stakeholder panel, Nicosia, March .


http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/navigating-the-paradigm-shift 53/104WATER SUSTAINABILITY: CURRENT SITUATION IN THE TURKISH CYPRIOT COMMUNITY 53

254 Gozen Elkiran and Aysen Turkman: ‘Salinity Problems in Northern Cyprus and Desalination Applicat ions,’ Paper presented at BALWOIS, Ohrid, Republic o Macedonia, - May , p. .

255 Gozen Elkiran and Mustaa Ergil: ‘Integrated Water Resources Planning and Management o North Cyprus: Case Study on WaterSupply and Demand including Drought Conditions’, Paper presented at International Conerence on "Water Observation andInormation System or Decision Support" Ohrid, Republic o Macedonia - May , p. .

256 Ozturk cited in in Gozen Elkiran and Aysen Turkman, ‘Water Scarcity Impacts on Northern Cyprus and Alternative MitigationStrategies’ in Qi, Jiaguo and Evered, Kyle T. (Eds.), Environmental Problems o Central Asia and their Economic, Social and Security

Impacts, Proceedings o the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Environmental Problems o Central Asia and their Economic,Social and Security Impacts Tashkent, Uzbekistan - October , p..

257 Bozer; Ergil cited in Elkiran and Turkman: , .258 FAA BIODIVERSIT Y ANALYSIS, USAID Cyprus, , p..259 FAA BIODIVERSIT Y ANALYSIS, USAID Cyprus, , p..260 Elkiran and Turkman, : .261 Elkiran and Turkman, : .

. Water Sustainability: Current Situation in the Turkish Cypriot Community

.. State o the Water Resources

In the absence o adequate surace water, almost all (%) o the water supply o the northern

part o Cyprus comes rom groundwater 54. The main sources o water are two aquiers in

the Morphou and Kyrenia regions. The Morphou aquier is the bigger and more important

o these two aquiers in terms o capacity. It provides water or irrigation purposes in the

Morphou region as well as or domestic consumption in Nicosia and Famagusta 55.

The Famagusta aquier, which used to be the main aquier providing water or the whole

island in s, on the other hand, had been completely salinated by sea water intrusion due

to over-pumping, and thereore currently cannot be used or any purpose 56. The drying up

o the Famagusta aquier has led to a growing strain on the Morphou aquier. Years o over-

pumping has given way to salination, which subsequently led to worsening o the quality o

water extracted to the extent that it is no longer potable 57.

Indeed, as it was put on the Biodiversity Analysis commissioned by US AID, mainly due to

‘over-pumping o groundwater to meet consumption demands and or irrigation,’ ‘(s)

altwater intrusion into Cyprus’s aquiers’ has come to be ‘a pressing problem’ 58. ‘Over time as

agricultural lands are irrigated with ever increasing levels o salinity,’ the Analysis warns, ‘the

soil will become an inhospitable environment or native species rom invertebrates to ora,’ a

process which ultimately may result in desertication 59. The agriculture sector, which is currently using about percent o available water, will be the

rst to be hit by urther salination. In act, salination has already started causing a decline in

the agricultural yield 60.

As an example, the average yield o orange trees is t/ha, in , whereas the

expectation was t/ha. The decrease in the yield can be seen in all the crops and

orchards. In addition, the decrease in the yield is aggravated every year. Owing to the

limitations in water resources and decrease in water quality, agricultural income in

was ound to be US$ million; however it would be US$ Million i water

quality and land reclamation were considered 61.

The salination problem is being worsened by increasing the number o boreholes, which

are being continuously drilled without being subject to any regulation leading to excessive

extraction. Selling water obtained this way with tankers by private vendors is widespread

especially in the summer when water rationing becomes stricter.



Another actor posing a serious threat against the aquiers is contamination due to ‘inltration

o inappropriately discharged domestic and industrial wastewater’ 6.

The water loss due to the leakages in the distribution system, which stands about -%63

is another actor exacerbating the water problem in general, in the northern part o Cyprus.

Rising demand (population growth; rising living standards; increasing importance o the

tourism and higher education sectors) on the one hand, and declining supply (decreasing

amount o rainall over the last years 64; salination; pollution 65;), on the other, clearly shows

that water scarcity will continue to be an important issue in the years to come calling or

better water management practices.

.. Dams

With a view to improve the inrastructure in the ace o increasing water scarcity, dams

were constructed in the northern part o Cyprus in ’s 66. o these dams were built ‘to

store water or irrigation purposes. The remaining were constructed or preventing the direct

ow to the sea and thus, contributing more eciently to the aquier recharge 67’.

.. Wastewater Treatment

The biggest wastewater treatment plant is located in Mia Milia/Haspolat. The plant, which

was established in as a bi-communal project, is no longer able to cope with the growing

volume, and has serious shortcomings. ‘We are not satised with the operation o the Haspolat

plant,’ said Nevzat Oznel, the manager o the plant in an interview published in Kibris daily.

‘One o the problems is odour. Second one is evaporation, which causes salination, lowering

the quality o water. … The quality o water is below the EU standards. Capacity is inadequate.

… We need a new plant,’ he concludes 68.

Accordingly, earlier this year the construction o a new, bi-communal wastewater treatment

plant to replace the current one has commenced. According to the European Commission’s

Representation in Cyprus 69 - which oots the bill on behal o the Turkish Cypriot community,

the rest being nanced by the Sewerage Board o Nicosia- the plant, which will use ‘state-o-

the-art technology 70’, will have a capacity o producing million m o water a year to be

used in irrigation. As a by-product, the plant will also produce biosolids, which will be used to

generate ‘green electricity 71’ to power the plant 7.

262 Nevzat Oznel: ‘Wastewater Management,’ Unpublished Paper.263 Mavioglu cited in Elkiran and Turkman, : .264 Nicos Tsiourtis: Cyprus-Water Resources Planning and Climate Change Adaptation, Paper presented at Mediterranean Regional

Roundtable, Athens, Greece, December -, , p. .265 Elkiran and Turkman, : .266 Elk iran and Ergil, : .267 Elkiran and Ergil, : .

268 Gozde Surec: ‘Mesarya’ya Hayat,’ Kibris, June .269 According to the Representation, ‘the investment is in line with water conservation policy introduced by the EU Water Framework

Directive and EU legislation on urban wastewater treatment’http://ec.europa.eu/cyprus/news/press_releases/_waste_water_plant_en.htm (accessed on June ).

270 ‘One o the largest acilities using Membrane Bioreactor Technology, … in the world’ (ibid.).271 http://ec.europa.eu/cyprus/news/press_releases/_waste_water_plant_en.htm (accessed on June ).272 Cited in Surec, .


http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/navigating-the-paradigm-shift 55/104WATER SUSTAINABILITY: CURRENT SITUATION IN THE TURKISH CYPRIOT COMMUNITY 55

273 http://ec.europa.eu/cyprus/news/press_releases/_waste_water_plant_en.htm(accessed on June ).

274 Ibid.

275 Works were due to start on this pipeline, on th July .276 Ercan Yavuz: ‘Eni, Alarko compete or water project or Northern Cyprus’, Today’s Zaman, July .277 Cited in ‘Kıbrıs'a 'yüzen su' için geri sayım başladı,’ http://ekonomi.haberturk.com/makro-ekonomi/haber/-kibrisa-yuzen-su-

icin-geri-sayim-basladi (accessed on June ).278 Cyprus Interview, November .279 Mithat Rende: Water Transer rom Turkey to Water-Stressed Countries, in Hillel I. Shuval, and Hassan Dwiek (eds.) the Middle East, in

Water Resources in the Middle East: Israel-Palestinian Water Issues – From Conlict to Cooperation, Berlin: Springer, , p. .

The project is aimed to help ‘the protection o the Pedhieos river catchment, and eliminate

the odours generated by the existing wastewater treatment plant’ 73.

The plant, which is expected to go online by , will be serving the needs o Greater Nicosia,

as well as processing ‘tankered septic material coming rom outlying areas’ 74.

.. Importing Water

While the Greek Cypriot decision-makers are ocusing their attention on desalination as a

remedy to increasing demand, and investing heavily on desalination plants to ease the water

shortage problem, the Turkish Cypriots are placing high hopes on the project o importing

water rom Turkey via an underwater pipeline 75. Partly due to this prospect, unlike in the

south, desalination has been playing only a minor role in the supply o water in the north.

The project, which can be traced back to , is already underway, and it involves a pipeline

o about kilometers running rom Mersin to Kyrenia (approximately km on the land

and km under the sea). The water will come rom the Dragos Stream in Mersin and will

be stored in Geçitkoy near Kyrenia. The capacity o the pipeline is envisaged to be about

-million m per year 76. In a recent interview with Anatolia Agency, Numan D. Gündüz,

the regional director o State Waterworks Authority (DSİ) o Turkey said that they aimed to

complete the project by 77.

Some experts are criticizing this project on the grounds that it will only deepen dependence

on Turkey, while not solving the real problem, which is considered to be poor demand

management rather than water shortage per se 78.

An earlier efort to import water rom Turkey with huge water bags towed by tugboats had

ailed due to technical diculties 79.



. Water Sustainability: Future Directions or Cyprus

Several meetings o water stakeholders, including Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot water

experts, armers, and others with an interest in water issues, were convened by the Cyprus initiative in February and March . The stakeholders were presented with the

research ndings o Cyprus staf in relation to global trends, EU polices and current

situation in Cyprus, and were asked, on the basis o this situation, to ormulate relevant

policy recommendations or the uture o Cyprus. The ollowing is a summary o their


.. Finding the right balance in agriculture

Currently the agriculture sector in Cyprus, by ocusing its production on water-thirsty crops

consumes approximately % o the available water supplies, while its contribution to GDP

is limited to a mere -%. This problem should be solved in cooperation with the armers,

and not through conrontation. It is proposed that a structured dialogue should take place

between armers, scientists studying the water issue, ocials responsible or agricultural

strategy, and ocials responsible or water management, which would aim to produce a new

strategy or water-ecient and protable agriculture, more suited or the current climatic

conditions o Cyprus.

Once the aorementioned stakeholders agree on the most appropriate agricultural strategy,

the most efective way to implement it on the ground is by linking arming incentives and

subsidies to making the switch to water ecient techniques; armers employing sustainable

practices, such as installation o drip irrigation system or switching o crops will be in a position

to most benet rom incentives provided by market gate keepers – such as cooperatives,

insurance companies, government departments etc. At the same time, an awareness-raising

campaign will need to be conducted among arming communities, with technical and expert

capacity building provided by appropriate authorities to those who decide to make the

transition to sustainable arming practices 80.

.. Towards an integrated water management system

Currently, within each community water management is ragmented among several local

boards, a situation which makes it very dicult to implement a cohesive water management

strategy in response to current challenges. As a rst step, it is recommended that each

community should institute a central supervisory mechanism by appointing an autonomous

water authority, which shall be comprised o a broad cross-section o relevant stakeholders

and experts, to allow water strategies to be implemented in a cohesive manner within each

community. As a second step, it is proposed that the two communities should begin to

coordinate and integrate their water management practices, by developing in parallel their

policies, guidelines and regulations 81.

280 This measure is already partially scheduled to be implemented island-wide, as part o an Environment Technical Committeeconidence building measure

281 This should be done at irst through the Environment Technical Committee’s Water Task Force.



In this regard, it is proposed that any water awareness strategy in Cyprus8 should go beyond

the conventional messages, and explicitly link water-related practices, whether demand- or

supply-related, to the looming threat o desertication. Averting desertication is an obviously

important goal that most citizens would identiy with, and this could serve as a motive or the

transormation o our water management practices.

282 Such a water awareness raising campaign is scheduled to commence under the auspices o the Environment Technical Committee.



PART III

Sustainable

Construction


http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/navigating-the-paradigm-shift 61/104GLOBAL TRENDS IN SUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION 61

. Global Trends in Sustainable Construction

In the quest to realize sustainable development, adopting a comprehensive approach

becomes indispensible. This requires a simultaneous development in economic, social, andenvironmental spheres. In other words, while seeking economic development, environmental

and social development goals should not be ignored. Construction sector has an important

role in sustainable development due to the environmental, social and economic efects

created throughout the building process.

.. Economic, Social and Environmental Efects o the

Construction Sector

Most human activities that have an efect on the environment are somehow connected with

the construction sector. The possible negative efects o these activities can be alleviated with

some changes in construction practices. The most obvious or measurable o these negative

efects is the one inicted on the environment. Nevertheless, socio-economic efects should

also be heeded 83.

With respect to the environmental efects o the construction sector, the exploitation o

natural resources; solid and liquid waste produced; along with the gases emitted throughout

the building process can be counted. These negative efects can be classied as exploitation

o non-renewable natural resources, threatening with loss o biological diversity, loss o

agricultural areas, deorestation, global warming and pollution o water, air, and earth.

As ar as the economic efects o the construction sector are concerned, it is a well-known

act that the sector has strong linkages with the rest o the economy84 stimulating the

production o various goods and services, and thereore, largely contributing to employment

and economic growth.

It should be borne in mind that the sector is not limited to housing but ‘In addition to the

private sector activities, public sector road works and restorations, water and sewage system

works and restorations also have a positive efect on the growth o the construction sector 85’.

Construction is a signicant economic activity, which constitutes a signicant portion o GNP

in many countries. Thereore more oten than not, growth in the construction sector translatesinto growth in the economy in general. Furthermore, thanks to the huge employment

potential it provides, and its linkages with other economic sectors, it is dened as a locomotive

orce in the economy.

The sector also has diverse social efects. It afects the quality o lie o all individuals via

the quality o services, products, and the constructed environment it provides. By creating

employment opportunities or a signicant number o people thanks to its labour-intensive

nature, it plays a signicant role in the struggle to eradicate poverty. Issues such as job security,

insurance, lie saety and income equality or lack thereo, are among other important social

efects o the sector.

283 CIB and UNEP-IETC, : 284 World Bank: The Construction Industry: Issues and Strategies in Developing Countries, Washington DC, .285 SPO, : .



.. Construction within the ramework o SustainableDevelopment

In the light o the environmental and social efects o the construction sector mentionedabove, it can clearly be observed that contrary to the traditional approach, the efects o

the sector are not solely in the economic domain but also in the social and environmental

domains as well. In this context, when sustainable development principles and objectives

are considered, it becomes crucial that all the activities within the construction sector are

considered in line with sustainable development principles in order to achieve sustainable

development. The importance o the construction sector vis-à-vis sustainable development is

highlighted in international reports such as Agenda and Habitat II Agenda.

Agenda is primarily an action plan or sustainable development that addresses objectives,

goals and pledges or stakeholders, as well as strategic programmes. It denes the programmes

and actions, which are necessary to increase sustainability 86.

Habitat II Agenda, which ollowed Agenda , on the other hand, ocuses on housing and real

estate, and thereore its relevance with the construction sector is more direct 87. It includes

wider issues with regards to sustainable residential housing. For instance, it includes chapters

ocusing on how governments should encourage the sector 88. Accordingly, paragraph

emphasizes “the necessity o governments in all countries but particularly in developing

countries, to support the construction sector to become locally accessible, appropriate,

afordable, secure and productive with environmentally conscious building methods and

technologies including national, regional and sub-regional levels with the aim o highlighting

the optimal use o local human resources and energy-ecient methods that protects

public health” 89. Especially in paragraphs , and , actions or planning, designing,

construction, maintenance, renewing, sustainable supply o building materials, their use and

introduction, and sustainable production o these materials are dened or governments and

the construction sector 90.

The important role o the construction sector or sustainable development triggered the very

concept o sustainable construction.

It is very important to explore the inter-related concepts o sustainability, sustainable

development, and sustainable construction along with sustainable residential areas and

sustainable urbanisation concepts, as they are addressed in the publication titled “Agenda

or sustainable construction in developing countries”, by CIB and UNEP-IETC 91.

Accordingly, the central objective is to sustain the existence o species o homo sapiens,

supporting and keeping the human species alive. Sustainability is a condition that guarantees

the existence o homo sapiens and provides a space or a productive, healthy and secure

lie that is in harmony with local, cultural and moral values. Sustainable development is a

continuing process that preserves the dynamic balance among justice, welare and lie quality

with the demands o the community and what is ecologically easible.

286 CIB: Agenda on Sustainable Construction, CIB Report Publication ,Rotterdam, , p. .

287 CIB, : .288 CIB, : .289 CIB, : .290 CIB, : .291 CIB and UNEP-IETC, . Agenda or sustainable construction in developing countries: A discussion document, Boutek report No

Bou/E, WSSD edition, Pretoria, South Arica: CSIR Building and Construction Technology, p.. Available athttp://www.sustainable-design.ie/sustain/CIBsustainConstruct_DevelopingCountries.pd [Accessed August ].


http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/navigating-the-paradigm-shift 63/104GLOBAL TRENDS IN SUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION 63

Sustainable residential areas are those cities, towns, villages and their communities that

enable us to live in a way that supports a state o sustainability and sustainable development

principles.

Urban sustainability is a more comprehensive process or creating sustainable residential

areas especially in cities and towns. Urban sustainability also includes the establishment o

institutional, social and economic systems that support sustainable development besides

sustainable construction.

Sustainable construction means the application o sustainable development principles in

the large construction cycle that includes a wide range o issues rom planning o buildings

and inrastructure, designing and construction o buildings, extraction and exploitation o

natural resources to deconstruction and waste management. Sustainable construction is a

comprehensive process that aims to re-establish the harmony between a natural environment

and a constructed environment while creating settlements that encourage economic justice

and is t or human dignity.



. European Policies or Sustainable Construction

Energy consumption is perhaps the most signicant environmental impact o buildings

during their operational phase. Thereore, saving energy and improving energy eciency is

part o the key priorities o European policy, which is expressed by a number o directives and

guidelines to assist Member States. Increased energy eciency is also an important part o

the package o policies and measures needed or the EU to meet its commitments under the

Kyoto Protocol.

Among other instruments, European Directives / and / were promulgated.

Directive / deals with the energy eciency o buildings and establishes the concept

o energy perormance certicate, which all buildings should gradually acquire, starting with

the public buildings. Furthermore, Directive / concerns the energy eciency during

the end-use and the use o energy services, while raises an obligation on Member States toset a savings target o at least % by . Article o the Directive makes specic reerence to

energy end-use in the public sector stating that Member States should ensure that the public

sector perorms an exemplary role. According to Article , Member States should ensure

acceptance by the public sector o measures to improve energy eciency, with emphasis on

cost-efective measures that lead to large energy savings. These measures should be taken at

the national, regional, and/ or local level.

As mentioned above, achieving environmental quality o buildings requires on the one hand,

to achieve conditions o thermal and visual comort and indoor air quality, in order to ensure

the health o users, and on the other hand the minimum energy consumption and maximum

energy eciency.

.. Energy Perormance o Buildings (//EC) 9

Directive / aims to improve the energy eciency o buildings, taking into account

outdoor climatic and local conditions, as well as climate requirements o indoor spaces under

a cost-benet analysis. The Directive aims among others to establish requirements or: (a)

the general ramework o a methodology or calculating the integrated energy perormanceo buildings; (b) the application o minimum requirements or energy eciency in new

buildings; (c) the application o minimum requirements on energy perormance o large

existing buildings that are subject to major renovation; (d) energy certication o buildings

(energy perormance certicate); and (e) regular inspection o boilers and air conditioning in

buildings and in addition an assessment o heating boilers which are more than years old.

According to the Directive, Member States must implement, at national or regional level, a

calculation methodology o the energy eciency o buildings and to establish minimum

energy eciency standards. In setting requirements, Member States may diferentiate

between new and existing buildings and diferent categories o buildings. These requirements

shall take account o general indoor climate conditions in order to avoid possible negativeefects, such as inadequate ventilation, as well as local conditions and intended use and age

292 http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?ur i=OJ:L:::::EN:PDF (accessed on nd October ).


http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/navigating-the-paradigm-shift 65/104EUROPEAN POLICIES FOR SUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION 65

293 http://eur-lex .europa.eu/LexUr iServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:::::en:pd (accessed nd October ).294 http://ec.europa.eu/energy/action_plan_energy_eiciency/doc/com___en.pd (accessed nd October ).

o the building. The requirements should be reviewed at regular intervals not exceeding ve

years and, i necessary, updated to reect technical progress in building methods.

For new buildings with a total useul oor area o over , square meters, Member States

shall ensure that the technical, environmental and economic easibility o alternative systems

is considered and taken into account beore construction starts.

For existing buildings, where buildings with a total useul oor area over m undergo

major renovation, Member States shall provide so that energy eciency is upgraded to meet

minimum requirements as ar as this is technically, operationally and economically easible.

Finally, the Directive reers to the regular inspection o boilers and air conditioning, given the

large contribution o these acilities to the total consumption o the building.

.. Energy end-use eciency and energy services (//EC) 93

In , Directive //EC was adopted, the purpose o which is to enhance the cost-

efective improvement o energy eciency during the end-use o buildings in Member

States, by providing the necessary indicative targets as well as mechanisms, incentives

and institutional, nancial and legal rameworks in order to remove existing barriers and

imperections that impede the ecient end-use o energy, and creating the conditions or

the development and promotion o the market or energy services and the delivery to nal

consumers o other measures or the improvement o energy eciency.

Member States must adopt and aim to achieve an overall national indicative energy savingstarget o % by , with the use o energy services and other measures to improve energy

eciency. Member States shall take cost-efective, practicable and reasonable measures

designed to help achieve this goal.

In accordance with the Directive, Member States shall ensure that the public sector perorms

an exemplary role. Many packages under this Directive relate to public sector buildings, which

must act as role models or citizens on energy eciency.

.. Energy Eciency Action Plan (COM () ) 94

In late , the EU prepared the Energy Eciency Action Plan, aiming to mobilize inter alia,

public authorities, citizens and market players to undertake concerted actions that will lead

to the construction o energy-ecient buildings, the reduction o energy consumption, the

procurement o energy ecient household goods and the use o ecient energy systems.

Under this Action Plan, public authorities need to be a model or citizens by making rational

use o energy and adopting standards or sustainable consumption.

The measures outlined in the plan are designed or immediate implementation within the

next - years and their ultimate aim is to reduce energy expenditure by % by .



The measures and policies analyzed and reected in the Action Plan, primarily target the

dynamic energy-eciency demands o a wide range o products, services and buildings. The

priority axes o the action plan are the ollowing:

.. Green Paper on Integrated Product Policy

(IPP) (COM() ) 95

The production, use and disposal o products cause adverse efects on the environment.

The Integrated Product Policy deals with the minimization o the environmental impact o

products and services, taking into account their entire lie-cycle. Lie-Cycle Assessment is one

o the basic tools o IPP. In the case o buildings IPP is o particular importance as it concerns

the materials and services related to the lie-cycle o buildings. A building that meets the

principles o sustainability should, among others, be constructed rom materials that have

minimal environmental impact during their lie-cycle.

295 http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/site/en/com//com_en.pd (accessed nd October ).

Priority Description

Labelling o equipment and appliances, and specications or their minimum energy

consumption

Requirements or energy-eciency o buildings (“passive buildings”)

More ecient energy production and distribution

Delivering ecient uel or vehicles

Facilitating nancial support and investment on energy eciency or small and

medium-sized businesses and energy providers

Promoting energy eciency in new Member States o the European Union

Rational use o the tax system

Awareness o energy eciency

Energy eciency in newly constructed areas

Promote energy eciency worldwide


http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/navigating-the-paradigm-shift 67/104EUROPEAN POLICIES FOR SUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION 67

296 http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/construction_demolition.htm (accessed nd October ).297 http://ec.europa.eu/environment/gpp/pd/com__.pd (accessed nd October ).298 http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:L:EN:HTML (accessed nd October).299 http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:::::EN:PDF (accessed nd October ).

.. Construction, Demolition and Excavation Waste (CDEW) 96

The CDEW is one o the priority waste streams as dened by the Priority Waste Streams

program o the EU. The program gives emphasis on the hierarchy o waste management inaccordance with the ollowing owchart:

Due to the large and growing volume o CDEW, the EU considered it essential to create

systems o alternative management.

.. Policy on Green Public Procurement (COM() /) 97

The Policy applies to procurement by public authorities o products and services that meet

environmental criteria. Given the high purchasing power o public authorities, the increasing

demand or environmentally riendly products will lead to an increase in the production o

products with high environmental perormance with a long-term positive impact on the

environment. Buildings are an important subject o public procurement, and thereore the

application o environmental standards or public buildings could lead to uture large increasein the use o sustainable construction practices.

.. Other directives

a) Directive //EC 98 establishes a ramework or setting eco-design requirements or

products that consume energy, and b) Directive //EC 99 ocuses on the promotion o

cogeneration based on demand or heat.

Prevent or reduce production

Reuse

Recycling or recovery o materials

Energy recovery

Disposal



. Sustainable Construction: Current Situation inthe Greek Cypriot Community

The notion o sustainable construction is still almost non-existent in Cyprus. Very little is done

towards this direction in any construction activity on the island. Cyprus is currently at an

inancy stage regarding sustainable construction practices and seems to be moving at an

extremely slow pace. The main reason or this ocuses on the lack o experience in the eld

as well as on the perceived lack o evident proo regarding the nancial and environmental

eciencies o these practices.

.. Energy eciency

The government has so ar given more emphasis on the energy perormance o buildings.

The Energy Perormance o Buildings Act o - N. (I)/ , which incorporates the EU

directive //EU on Energy Perormance, ocuses on the ollowing:

(a) The need or the development o a single methodology or the assessment o energy

perormance o buildings. This methodology was eventually developed and adopted by

the Cyprus government in .

(b) The minimum criteria that new buildings should meet regarding thermal insulation.

Criteria were set in and put in orce rom January st, .(c) The issuance o energy perormance certicates beore the issuance o a construction

licence. During the design phase, every new building should be given an operational rating

with rates varying rom Class A to Class F (Class A being the higher eciency rating). For

a new building to be provided with a construction licence, operational rating should be

o Class A or B. These operational ratings are to be perormed only by specialized experts

who have passed the relevant examination by the Energy Service oce. The issuance o

the energy perormance certicates is mandatory or all new buildings rom January st,

. Nevertheless, no supervision is perormed during the construction phase in order to

ensure the correct application o energy eciency principles.

(d) The need or systematic inspection and maintenance o air-conditioning units.

(e) The need or systematic inspection and maintenance o boilers.

The various governmental authorities responsible or these issues (environmental service and

energy service oce) limit their eforts to the provision o a number o unding programmes

regarding the energy eciency o buildings, use o insulations, use o photovoltaic systems

and other RES, borehole drillings or domestic use (currently not regulated at all), recycling

o water, etc. Other than the measures on energy perormance, the principles o sustainable

construction are not enorced by law and thereore their application is totally depended on

the good will o people.



investigate the costs o such buildings and to see whether such construction methods would

make sense or promoting to the general public. The Town Planning oce was positive to the

idea but unortunately ETEK had a management change and the project was rozen 30.

As a result, current research eforts on sustainable construction are aiming to minimize the

costs related to the development o sustainable practices (estimated to about %-% extra

cost compared to standard construction).

One diculty in promoting sustainable construction practices is the act that we do not yet

have in Cyprus tangible examples o such buildings. Additionally, the inormation provided

to the public regarding these practices is very poor. Someone who wants to have his house

built according to sustainable construction principles would nd it dicult to receive

total consultation around the practices o sustainable construction as well as the nancial

opportunities related to these. A good start would be or architects and civil engineers to be

more inormed with their participation to more related seminars and workshops 303.

As mentioned earlier, the government currently concentrates mainly in promoting theenergy eciency o buildings. Nevertheless, there are two issues that impair the application

o correct energy eciency measures o new buildings: (a) authorities (energy service) do

review the designs o the buildings to ensure compatibility with energy eciency standards

but do not inspect buildings during the construction stage; (b) even the new legally-enorced

specications or buildings are not adequate or truly energy ecient buildings (or instance,

a general coecient or thermal insulation is required, but not or each part separately, e.g.

walls, windows, etc.) 304.

302 Cyprus interview, Ioannis Ioannou, Assistant Proessor, Department o Civil & Environmental Engineering, University o Cyprus,Nicosia, December .

303 Cyprus , stakeholder panel, Nicosia, March .304 Cyprus interview, Charalambos Theopemptou, Environmental Commissioner, Nicosia, September .


http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/navigating-the-paradigm-shift 71/104SUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION: CURRENT SITUATION IN THE TURKISH CYPRIOT COMMUNITY 71

305 State Planning Organization (SPO), : .306 SPO, : .307 SPO : .308 : .309 SPO : .

. Sustainable Construction: Current Situation inthe Turkish Cypriot Community

Socio-economic changes in the northern part o Cyprus coupled with the efects o the

UN Plan on the construction sector, led to a signicant acceleration, especially in residential

construction in towns, during the - period. ‘In parallel to this, a major increase

in property sales to oreigners, as well as secondary home sales in rural areas has been

experienced. The supply o residential estates during this period has contributed greatly to

the overall economy and employment 305’.

However, as stated by the State Planning Organization (SPO), these construction activities

created not only signicant amount o investment and employment, but also unplanned and

random development, depletion o natural resources, loss o agricultural land, and damaged

natural and historical heritage. Considering all these actors together, it can be said that in this

period, irreversible environmental problems were created which also threatened sustainable

development 306.

In this respect, ‘(t)he residential construction boom in Kyrenia ater the UN Plan sets a

bad example. The unregulated growth o residential construction has led to the destruction

o agricultural areas. The current legal gaps with regards to residential construction, and

the absence o town plans except or Nicosia have been resulting in developments that are

scattered and unorganised. It is possible to build on all parcelled plots, which have access to

water and roads. For this reason, parcelled plots are exceeding the actual need, and thereore

residential constructions remain scattered’ 307.

In a similar vein, Yorucu and Keleş assert that the rapid growth in construction activities inthe northern part o Cyprus has created signicant social costs. In this context, coastal areas

with high potentials or tourism, natural and biologic diversity, agricultural areas with high

productivity or areas with historical and architectural heritage have been gravely afected by

unplanned development and widespread urbanisation 308.

Beyond these immediate problems, decreasing demand and surplus supply ollowing the

boom period have come to indicate that the sector is not sustainable. Even during times o

growth, the added value has been considerably below the potential.

The most important reason behind the unsustainable tendencies in the sector is the absence

o a comprehensive strategy and plan: National Sustainable Development Strategy; NationalSustainable Construction Strategy; Country Physical Plan; Town Plans (Except or Nicosia).

Other obstacles to sustainable construction in the Turkish Cypriot community, according to

the State Planning Organisation, include:

‘The lack o technical know-how or geologic assessment o the ground or all kinds o

constructions (assessments on the earthquake resistance, avalanche, water drainage

and the penetration level o the layers ect.), nancial diculties and the increase in the

costs due to the increased prices o the imported materials had a negative impact on

the development o the sector 309’.



‘Currently the system or quality control and or the standardization o locally produced

or imported construction materials have not been employed in the northern part o

Cyprus which in turn becomes a actor lowering the quality o construction as well

as posing a threat to public saety. The lack o independent institutions exclusively

established to scrutinise and inspect the whole process starting rom the project stageuntil the nal completion phase poses as a big problem’ 310.

‘As modern construction technologies are not being used widely in the northern part

o Cyrus, maintenance and repair costs increase while damaging the environment

which brings indirect consequences or a country where tourism is undamental.

Failing to pay due attention to heat insulation leads to signicant energy loss both in

winter and summer 311’.

310 SPO : .311 SPO : .


http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/navigating-the-paradigm-shift 73/104SUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION: FUTURE DIRECTIONS FOR CYPRUS 73

. Sustainable Construction: Future Directionsor Cyprus

Several meetings o construction stakeholders, including Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot

architects, civil engineers, academic researchers, and others with an interest in construction

issues, were convened by the Cyprus initiative in February and March . The

stakeholders were presented with the research ndings o Cyprus staf in relation to

global trends, EU polices and current situation in Cyprus, and were asked, on the basis o

this situation, to ormulate relevant policy recommendations or the uture o Cyprus. The

ollowing is a summary o their recommendations, and accompanying rationale:

.. Creating incentives or sustainable construction

Decisions about building practices are usually made at the level o the individual architect,

engineer, developer or end-user, and any eforts to put in place sustainability standards is

unlikely to succeed unless it ofers clear incentives to these individual decision makers. Such

incentives must be designed to help overcome concerns regarding the increased cost o

sustainable construction practices. More specically, the ollowing options are available:

Oering monetary incentives: The conventional approach in ofering incentives or sustainable

construction – whether in upgrading existing homes or in constructing new homes - is to

give out nancial grants. Such an approach however can be very expensive on the state

budget, and still ail to make an impact given the inevitably modest amount o the grant. A

less expensive and more efective monetary incentive or sustainable construction would be

to ofer low cost credit linked to sustainable construction practices, with the collaboration o

public and private nancing institutions.

Oering bonus building ratios: An even more efective approach – in terms o providing

a nancial incentive - would be to ofer bonus building ratios or sustainable construction

practices, which could take the orm o a specic ‘bonus ratio catalogue’ or specically

acknowledged sustainability practices. O course, the implementation o this measure should

take account o broader planning requirements, while diferent incentive ratios can apply or

diferent areas. It is predicted that even a small percentile bonus would lead to the rapid

generalization o sustainable construction practices, given the high impact on the net value

o properties, while this policy would not signicantly burden the state budget.

Making energy/water eciency + waste reduction certifcates compulsory: I each property

comes with an eciency certicate, classiying the property as Class A, Class B, Class C etc,

then inevitably the energy/water/waste eciency o a building will begin to be reected in

its overall value, thus enhancing the economic rationale to build in accordance with best

practices or sustainability 31.

312 As mentioned in a previous section, energy eiciency certiicates are already compulsory in the Greek Cypriot community asst January , though several commentators are arguing that the sustainability practices that are expected or a Class A or Bcertiicate do not set the bar high enough.



.. Increasing awareness o available sustainable constructionpractices

Currently, awareness o available sustainable construction practices is quite low in Cyprus,which is understandable given that sustainable construction is a very recent trend in the

global agenda. Increasing awareness should be seen as an essential corollary to the increasing

o incentives that was elaborated above. In this matter, the ollowing proposals are submitted.

Commissioning a sustainable construction planning guide: The development o such a guide

should be careully researched, in order to integrate best global practices with the realities o

Cyprus’ climate and construction tradition. The guide should highlight the several available

technologies or diferent aspects o the construction process, highlighting or each one how

much they will cost and the rate at which the investment will be paid back. Beyond the use

o technological solutions, the guide should also include design recommendations or the

passive improvement o a building’s energy, water, waste eciency by making smarter use o

sunlight and wind patterns. This guide should be published in both Greek and Turkish, and

made available to planners, developers, architects, engineers and the general public in both

communities, in the context o a deliberate and well-designed training strategy and public

awareness campaign.

Instituting an annual “best sustainable building” award: For such an award scheme to be

efective in promoting awareness or sustainable construction practices, it must become a

widely publicized event in which the media are brought in as sponsoring partners, inorming

the public in advance o who the chie contenders are and or which practices they are being

considered, encouraging viewer eedback on who the winner should be etc. The award

could be broken down into building categories (e.g. residential home category, block o ats

category, oce space category, tourism) while the value o the award should be such as to

provide a signicant incentive to enter the competition.

Develop a certifcation/accreditation scheme or engineers and architects: On the basis o the

sustainable construction planning guide, discussed above, a certication / accreditation

scheme could be institute to veriy the training and credentials o engineers and architects in

relation to sustainable construction best practices. Thus, proessionals who wish to respond to

the increasing public demand or sustainable construction services will have a strong motive

to seek ongoing training in order to achieve certication.

.. Urban-level pilot projects

Sustainable construction is not just a matter o individually sustainable buildings, but also

a matter o local communities that unction as healthy and resilient ecosystems. A rst step

or achieving progress at the level o local communities is by taking the example o a local

community and treating it as a pilot project or sustainable construction. I used strategically,

such an approach could also hold symbolic value in terms o bringing the Greek Cypriot and

Turkish Cypriot communities closer to each other. Specically, the ollowing pilot projects are

proposed 313.

313 Such projects may it under the mandate o UNDP-ACT’s Participatory Development Project.


http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/navigating-the-paradigm-shift 75/104SUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION: FUTURE DIRECTIONS FOR C YPRUS 75

314 In this context, part o the agreement on Varosha could be that it will join the EU Smart Cities initiative, as instituted by the EU’sStrategic Energy Technology Plan.

Revising the Nicosia Master Plan: Already, the Nicosia Master Plan supports in theory the

principles o sustainability, but there are very ew specic elements in this regard. It is proposed

that the two municipalities should work to revise the Master Plan in line with sustainability and

sustainable construction principles, starting with the core o Nicosia, or instance, to create a

role model or other local communities. EU unds could be sought or such an endeavour.

Twin-pilot projects: Grants, incentives and technical support could be ofered to local authorities

and other, private sector investors, to incorporate principles o sustainability, on the condition

that they twin with a comparable town, village or municipality in the other community. Such

pilot projects will assist the process o capacity building and benchmark setting, or urban-

level sustainable construction practices.

Varosha as an eco-city: It is widely acknowledged that Varosha will ultimately have to be

almost entirely rebuilt beore it becomes habitable. This problem is at the same time a unique

opportunity to convert Varosha into a smartly designed and ully sustainable eco-city which

will serve as an example not only within Cyprus, but more broadly in the region and the

European Union. 314



PART IV

Sustainable Mobility


http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/navigating-the-paradigm-shift 79/104GLOBAL TRENDS IN SUSTAINABLE MOBILITY 79

. Global Trends in Sustainable Mobility

.. Global Mobility Challenges

The most striking act about the transportation / mobility sector today is its almost complete

dependence on oil. According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), transportation is ‘%

dependent on oil and accounts or roughly hal o global oil use 315.’ It also accounts or “

percent o global GHG emissions’ 316. The WEF expects the demand or oil to ‘increase more

rapidly in the transportation sector than in any o the other end-use sectors over the next

years 317’. Thereore, the concerns mentioned in the energy section i.e. climate change; peak oil;

energy security, apply to the transportation / mobility sector equally i not more.

Moreover, it should be borne in mind that although transportation is an indispensable part o

modern lie, it has many negative efects on human health, which maniest themselves also

as economic costs. Beyond emissions rom the burning o ossil uels, health concerns related

to the use o motorized transport include trac accidents (collisions), high noise level 318, and

air pollution 319.

Slow moving trac combined with poorly maintained and regulated vehicle stock, is

a key contributor in making the megacities o developing countries the most polluted

in the world. In the most heavily polluted cities, such as Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, and

Jakarta, economic losses rom air pollution are estimated to reach percent o GDP.

… The World Health Organization estimates that urban air pollution (rom transport

and non-transport sources) causes , premature deaths each year, while urban

road accidents cost developing countries US$ billion each year 30.

The adverse efect o congestions on our quality o lie is another obvious concern. The

economic cost o congestion, which has reached .% o GDP in Korea and % in Bangkok,’

according to the WBCSD 31, is ar beyond negligible.

Given this unsustainable state o the current transportation system 3, the biggest challenge,

we are acing at the moment is devising a national transportation policy, which can address

these considerations in an efective way without hampering economic growth: In other

words, a sustainable transportation/mobility system.

.. What is sustainable transportation/mobility?

European Council o Ministers o Transport dene sustainable transportation as the

transportation system that

315 World Economic Forum: The Global Agenda , p. .316 WBCSD: Mobili ty or Development: Facts and Trends, September , p. .317 World Economic Forum, : .

318 OECD: OECD Guidelines Towards Environmentally Sustainable Transport, : ; please see also the diagram prepared by Molinaand Molina cited in WBCSD, : .

319 Stephen Marshall: The Challenge o Sustainable Transport, in Planning or a sustainable uture, Antonia Layard, Simin Davoudi, SusanBattyeds (eds.), London: Spon Press, , pp. -.

320 WBCSD, : .321 WBSCD, : .322 OECD, : .



Allows the basic access and development needs o individuals, companies and society

to be met saely and in a manner consistent with human and ecosystem health, and

promotes equity within and between successive generations.

Is afordable, operates airly and eciently, ofers a choice o transport modes and

supports a competitive economy, as well as a balanced regional development.

Limits emissions and waste within the planet’s ability to absorb them, uses renewable

resources at or below their rates o generation, and uses non-renewables in a way that

minimizes the impact on the use o land and the generation o noise 33 34.

In a similar vein, World Business Council or Sustainable Development (WBCSD) denes

sustainable mobility, a similar concept, ‘as the ability to meet the needs o a society to move

reely, gain access, communicate, trade and establish relationships without sacricing other

essential human or ecological value today or in the uture’. ‘For mobility to be sustainable,’

the WBCSD continues, ‘it must improve accessibility while avoiding disruptions in societal,

environmental and economic well-being that more than ofset the socio-economic benetso accessibility improvements’.

.. Possible Remedies

In its Fourth Assessment Report, the IPCC summarizes key mitigation technologies and

practices in transport in a very succinct and clear manner as ‘More uel-ecient vehicles;

hybrid vehicles; cleaner diesel vehicles; bio-uels; modal shits rom road transport to rail

and public transport systems; non-motorized transport (cycling, walking); land use and

transport planning; second generation biouels; higher eciency aircrat; advanced electric

and hybrid vehicles with more powerul and reliable batteries’ 35. In what ollows, some o

these technologies and practices, which are deemed important or the case o Cyprus, will be

urther elaborated.

Making Personal Motor Vehicles Greener

In the last couple o decades, vehicle ownership, especially in the developing world has

been growing at a rate o - percent annually 36. By , road transport represented

percent o energy consumed by the transportation sector as a whole 37. ‘Automobile travel

now accounts or –% o total trips in the developing world … % in Western Europe

and % in the United States’ 38. As a result, cars alone already account or % o the man-

made GHG 39. Yet, the trend has hardly slowed down. Quite to the contrary, the number o

passenger cars will quadruple to nearly billion by , orecasters say. Such expectations,

323 Cited in The Centre or Sustainable Transportat ion: Deining Sustainable Transportation, Prepared or Transport Canada, March, pp. -. Available at http://cst.uwinnipeg.ca/documents/Deining_Sustainable_.pd (accessed June ).

324 This deinition eatured in a resolution entitled Strategy For Integrating Environment and Sustainable Development into The Transport Policy—also known as the April Resolution—adopted by the Ministers responsible or Transport and Communications atthe th meeting o the EU’s Council o Ministers, held in Luxembourg, April -, ( The Centre or Sustainable Transportation: ).

325 IPCC, : Summary or Policymakers. In: Climate Change : Mitigation. Contribution o Working Group III to the FourthAssessment Report o the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [B. Metz, O.R. Davidson, P.R. Bosch, R. Dave, L.A. Meyer (eds)],Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA. , p. .

326 WBCSD, : .327 WBCSD, : .328 Ribeiro et.al., , .329 Charge!, The Economist, September .



330 Charge!, The Economist, September .331 Charge!, The Economist, September .332 Georey Carr: The coming alternatives, The Economist, November .333 Charles Hawley : Pressure Grows on EU to Abandon Biouels, Spiegel Online, April .334 B ioools, The Economist, August .

335 Bioools.336 Georey Carr: The coming alternatives, The Economist, November ; Charles Hawley, Europe’s Biouels Conundrum, Speigel

Online, September .337 A Water Warning, The Economist, November .338 A Water Warning, The Economist, November .339 Charles Hawley, Pressure Grows on…340 EU Committee Votes to Cut Biouels Goal, Spiegel Online, September .

The Economist reports, led the boss o the Renault-Nissan alliance, Carlos Ghosn, to declare

that i the industry did not get on with producing cars with very low or zero emissions, the

world would “explode” 330.

Fortunately, largely due to growing pressure rom the regulators, the car industry is making

huge eforts not only to make conventional engines cleaner but also to develop electric,

battery-powered vehicles, which emit less ‘even when the generation o the electricity needed

to charge them is taken into account’ 331. Another parallel efort to lower carbon emissions is

developing diferent sorts o biouels.

Bio-Fuels

Bio-uels have two variants: First-generation and second-generation biouels. When we talk

about rst-generation bio uels, basically we reer to alternatives:

- Ethanol, obtained via ermentation o sugars rom cane or maize- Bio-diesel obtained rom processed plant oils 33.

In both cases, crops are planted specically or the purpose o uel production 333. In theory,

as these crops take up CO2 during their growth (photosynthesis), ‘burning uels made rom

them should have no net efect on the amount o that gas in the atmosphere’ thereore

burning them should have no efect on climate 334. This is hardly the case in practice, however.

According to a report by the International Council or Science (ICSU), ‘a Paris-based ederation

o scientic associations rom around the world… so ar, the production o biouels has

aggravated rather than ameliorated global warming’ because the amount o nitrous oxide

(N2O) ‘released by arming biouel crops… probably negates by itsel any advantage ofered

by reduced emissions o CO2’ 335.

First-generation biouels have other additional environmental drawbacks. These are,

competition with ood crops, which is driving up the ood prices; the need to clear virgin

land to grow them, which is leading to deorestation; and the energy costs o processing

them 336. We can also add the water shortage problem to this list o drawbacks: we need ‘up

to , litres o water to grow the soy or one litre o biodiesel, and up to , litres or the

corn to be transormed into bioethanol’ 337. By promoting biouels, the politicians are trying to

alleviate a serious problem (climate change), by ‘making another, even more serious problem

(water shortage) worse,’ argues Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, chairman o Nestlé 338. Jean Ziegler,

UN’s Special Rapporteur or the Right to Food, is even harsher in his criticisms against biouel

production, calling it ‘a crime against humanity ’ 339.

In the ace o these criticisms, initial enthusiasm or biouels has started waning 340. Back in

, the EU leaders had set a target o using percent rst-generation biouels in road

transport by , as part o a wider climate change package. A couple o months later, the

European Parliament’s industry committee voted to revise this target to percent.

Second-generation biouels, on the other hand, are obtained through ‘processing agricultural



by-products, and other non-edible biomass’ 341. According to Carr, second-generation biouels

in the orm o ‘“advanced” ethanol—made rom straw, wood chippings and suchlike, using

new technological tricks such as genetically engineered bacteria to do the ermenting (and)

“designer” biodiesel, made rom sugar but turned into hydrocarbons that should be even

better than uels rom oil’ will start coming out o pilot plants towards the end o 34.However, they are ‘still years away rom making a signicant impact ’ 343 according to Hawley.

Plug-in/Electric Cars

While enthusiasm or biouels is in sharp decline, political support or electric cars is booming.

Last year, the Global Agenda Council on the Future o Transportation called or a paradigm

change that would pave the way or electric cars 344. While the US, and China have already

launched massive programs to promote electric vehicles, Germany, which ears alling

behind in this race, has recently revealed plans to invest heavily in this technology. German

‘Economics Minister Rainer Brüderle calls the electric car a "key technology or Germany as an

industrial location," while Transport Minister Peter Ramsauer has already dened the subject

as "the most important project o this legislative period." Chancellor Merkel, too, is calling it a

"national task" 345’.

The distinguishing characteristic o these cars is that the electricity they require comes simply

rom ordinary electric sockets we have at homes 346, which means although driving them

emits zero-carbon, ‘their overall environmental credentials depend on how the electricity is

generated in the rst place. I it comes rom coal, they are still better in global-warming terms

than traditional cars—but not by as much as they could be i the power were wind, solar or

even... nuclear’ 347. The ideal case would be charging them ‘up with low-cost wind- generatedpower at night, a time when much o the power generated by wind turbines goes wasted 348’.

‘Plug-ins are moving rom idea to reality with an amazing speed,’ The Economist

comments 349. By the end o , mainstream manuacturers like Nissan, and Chevrolet are

planning to release their electric cars 350. Other major manuacturers are expected to ollow

suit. But this does not necessarily mean that electric cars will become mainstream any time

soon. One o the biggest obstacles is their price. ‘A vehicle in the lower mid-range class with an

electric engine costs between €, and , more than a comparable car with a gasoline

engine’ 351. ‘That is because o the high cost o batteries, and because other components must

be redesigned or electric vehicles. In an industry driven by scale, small volumes lead to high

costs’ 35. ‘Without government subsidies,’ write Hawranek and Neubacher o Spiegel Online,

‘electric cars are virtually unmarketable. France ofers customers an incentive o €,, China

ofers €, and the United States ofers €,’. Two other problems hindering their spread

are too short ranges (According to Auto Motor und Sport, a German motoring magazine, ‘the

341 Charles Hawley, Pressure Grows on…342 Georey Carr: The coming alternatives, The Economist, November .343 Charles Hawley, Europe’s Biouels Conundrum, Speigel Online, September .344 World Economic Forum, : .345 Dietmar Hawranek and Alexander Neubacher: Germany to Promote Electric Cars with Massive State Aid, Spiegel Online, April

.

346 The End o the Petrollhead, A Special Report on Energy, The Economist, June .347 The Coming Alternatives, The Economist, November .348 Fritz Vahrenholt, Spiegel, ,,.349 The End o the Petrollhead.350 Charge!351 Dietmar Hawranek and Alexander Neubacher.352 Charge!



353 Dietmar Hawranek and Alexander Neubacher.354 Dietmar Hawranek and Alexander Neubacher.355 A Netscape moment? The Economist, February .356 http://www.mwcog.org/commuter/commuter/ridesharing/whatitis.html (accessed February ).357 http://www.mwcog.org/commuter/commuter/ridesharing/whatitis.html358 http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?ile=////central/&sec=central359 http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?ile=////central/&sec=central (accessed February ).360 http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?ile=////central/&sec=central361 http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?ile=////central/&sec=central362 Kahn Ribeiro, S., S. Kobayashi, M. Beuthe, J. Gasca, D. Greene, D. S. Lee, Y. Muromachi, P. J. Newton, S. Plotkin, D. Sperl ing, R. Wit, P. J.

Zhou, : Transport and its inrastructure. In Climate Change : Mitigation. Contribution o Working Group III to the FourthAssessment Report o the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [B. Metz, O.R. Davidson, P.R. Bosch, R. Dave, L.A. Meyer (eds)],Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA, p..

363 American Public Transportation Association: The Beneits o Public Transportation.364 Ribeiro et.al. : .365 Ribeiro et.al. : .

electric Smart only made it kilometers on a single charge, while the Mitsubishi’s battery

was empty ater kilometers’ 353); and too long charging times or batteries 354.

Given these obstacles, a boom in electric car sales is not expected in the immediate uture.

‘Industry orecasts suggest that by about % o new cars will be either entirely battery

driven vehicles or plug-in hybrids, with accelerated growth thereater’ 355.

Car-Pooling

I we cannot make private vehicles greener in the short run, at least we can minimize their negative

efects by reducing personal motorized transport. One o the most practical methods o doing

this is car-pooling. This ‘is the simplest and most common "ridesharing" arrangement’ 356. It

involves two or more persons –most o the time commuters- riding together in a private

vehicle on a ‘continuing basis regardless o their relationship to each other or the cost o

sharing agreements’ 357. By promoting car-pooling, it is aimed to reduce the number o ‘Single

Occupancy Vehicles (SOV) that travel with low eciency and thus contribute to congestionand green house gas emission’ 358.

Nowadays, Malaysian authorities - among others - are considering carpooling as ‘one o the

strategic directions in the Drat Kuala Lumpur City Plan on building a more sustainable,

integrated and environmentally riendly transport inrastructure in the city’ 359. The plan

envisions ‘incentives to those who carpool, especially to employees o government agencies

and major corporations in the city centre. The incentives can also include subsidized parking

or registered pool vehicles’ 360. According to Norliza Hashim, a consultant working on this

issue, carpooling can help in reducing the number o vehicles drastically: “Say , SOV

vehicles switch to high occupancy vehicles like a bus where more than persons travel in

it, the number o vehicles on the road will be reduced to ,. I it's a low occupancy vehicle

where more than three persons travel in the same vehicle, the number is reduced to ,

vehicles which is a reduction o %” 361.

Public/Mass Transportation

In principle, mass transportation uses less energy and generates less GHGs than private cars 36.

It eases congestion, consequently allowing private vehicles to achieve greater uel eciency 363.

Additionally, it ‘is considered avorably rom a social sustainability point o view because it gives

higher mobility to people who do not have access to a car’ 364. Given that, any policy that

intends to cut carbon emission must be backed by investment in public transportation. ‘(L)

arge capacity buses, light rail transit and metro or suburban rail can be easible mitigation

options or the transport sector’ 365.



The various advantages o public transportation notwithstanding, growing private vehicle

ownership is in practice ‘reducing the use and availability o public transport services’ 366.

Promoting the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) is one o the eforts aiming to buck this trend 367. BRT,

which was introduced in Curitiba, Brazil in , and then spread all over the world, rom

New Zealand to China, stands as a cheaper alternative to light rail systems 368. ‘The cost o construction, at only US$ million/km’, according to Hook, is ‘a raction o most light rail

systems (generally greater than US$ million/km)’.

Wright denes BRT as a mass transit system, which uses ‘exclusive right o way lanes that

mimic the rapidity and perormance o metro systems, but utilizes bus technology rather than

rail vehicle technology’ 369.

BRT systems can be seen as enhanced bus service and an intermediate mode between

conventional bus service and heavy rail systems. BRT includes eatures such as exclusive

right o way lanes, rapid boarding and alighting, ree transers between routes and

preboard are collection and are verication, as well as enclosed stations that are saeand comortable, clear route maps, signage and real-time inormation displays, modal

integration at stations and terminals, clean vehicle technologies and excellence in

marketing and customer service 370.

‘Privately run para-transit services such as share-taxis, minibuses and pick-up trucks’ also play

a signicant role as modes o public transport in the cities o developing countries. In major

cities o Asia, like Manila, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok, para-transit services ‘provide

between - percent o public transport’ 371.

Promoting Non-Motorized Transport (NMT) - Walking and Cycling

Certainly, ‘(t)he healthiest and most sustainable modes o transport are walking and cycling’ 37.

According to the Environmental and Energy Study Institute based in Washington DC ‘(a)

n estimated percent o all personal trips are under two miles, creating vast potential to

increase walking and biking as a practical and cost-efective means o travel’ provided that

‘sae, convenient, and comortable options are made available’ 373. An additional benet o

NMT, which is gaining increasing attention in many countries, is its positive efect on public

health.

The main obstacle impeding walking, on the other hand, especially in developing countries,

is insuciency o sidewalks: Most o the time they are either non-existent or obstructed 374. InIndonesia, or instance, percent o paved roads do not have usable sidewalks 375. Another

important actor discouraging pedestrians rom walking more is the lack o sae road-crossing

acilities 376. Same shortcomings apply to biking as well. As one Sao Paolan remarks, ‘you have

to be brave to ride a bike to work in São Paulo’ 377.

366 WBCSD, : .367 WBCSD, : .368 Walter Hook: Bus Rapid Transit: A Cost-Eective Mass Transit Technology, EM, A&WMA's Magazine or Environmental Managers, June

, p. .369 Cited in Ribeiro et. al. : .370 Ribeiro et. al. : .

371 WBCSD, : .372 http://www.gdrc.org/uem/sustran/key-issues.html373 http://www.eesi.org/public_trans (accessed February ).374 World Business Council or Sustainable Development: Mobility or Development, March , p. .375 Hook cited in WBCSD, : .376 WBCSD, : .377 Cited in WBCSD, : .



378 Marshall, : .379 Ribeiro et. al. : .380 Towards a Sustainable Transport System: Supporting Economic Growth in a Low Carbon World, UK Department or Transport, ,

p. .

These problems can be overcome, and walking and cycling can be promoted, according to

Marshall, by implementing such measures as pedestrianization, building pedestrian crossings,

ootpaths, cycle lanes, parking; and introducing trac signals, signage, company cycle subsidy 378.

Beyond these inrastructural improvements, saety conditions or pedestrians and cyclists can

be bettered through campaigns to educate drivers 379.

.. London: A Successul Case

London is a success story, which shows what a coherent policy mix can achieve: The authorities

brought cross-modal transport planning and spatial planning together, and implemented a

balanced package o interventions – investment in public transport, priority or buses and

cyclists, a local reight strategy, and congestion charging. Consequently, between -

and -, bus use increased rom . billion journeys a year to . billion, bucking the

national trend; more trips are made by cycle and on oot, average trac speeds in central and

inner London have increased since (reversing a long-term trend); road casualties across

London have declined aster than in the rest o the country 380.



. European Policies or Sustainable Mobility

Transport is one o the European Union’s oremost common policies. Policies have been

ocused on eliminating borders between Member States and to thereore contribute to theree movement o individuals and o goods. Their principal aims are to complete the internal

market, ensure sustainable development, extend transport networks throughout Europe,

maximise use o space, enhance saety and promote international cooperation. The Single

Market signalled a veritable turning point in the area o mobility. Since the White Paper,

which was revised in , this policy area has been oriented towards harmoniously and

simultaneously developing the diferent modes o transport and in particular with making

use o each means o transport (ground, waterborne or aerial) to its best efect.

.. Promotion o the use o biouels or other renewable uelsor transport (//EC) 381

According to Directive //EC, Member States should ensure that a minimum proportion

o biouels and other renewable uels is placed on their markets, and, to that efect, shall set

national indicative targets. A reerence value or these targets shall be .%, calculated on the

basis o energy content, o all petrol and diesel or transport purposes placed on their markets

by December .

Biouels may be made available in any o the ollowing orms: (a) as pure biouels or at high

concentration in mineral oil derivatives, in accordance with specic quality standards or

transport applications; (b) as biouels blended in mineral oil derivatives, in accordance with

the appropriate European norms describing the technical specications or transport uels

(EN and EN ); (c) as liquids derived rom biouels.

Member States shall monitor the efect o the use o biouels in diesel blends above % by

non-adapted vehicles and shall, where appropriate, take measures to ensure compliance with

the relevant Community legislation on emission standards.

In the measures that they take, the Member States should consider the overall climate and

environmental balance o the various types o biouels and other renewable uels and maygive priority to the promotion o those uels showing a good cost-efective environmental

balance, while also taking into account competitiveness and security o supply.

Member States shall ensure that inormation is given to the public on the availability o

biouels and other renewable uels.

381 http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:::::EN:PDF (accessed nd October ).


http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/navigating-the-paradigm-shift 87/104EUROPEAN POLICIES FOR SUSTAINABLE MOBILITY 87

382 http://ec.europa.eu/transport/strategies/_greening_transport_en.htm (accessed nd October ).

.. Greening Transport Package (COM() ) 38

The main issues targeted by the Package are the ollowing:

Climate change

Climate change is now a priority environmental problem and the EU receives measures to:

(a) limit CO2 emissions rom new cars, (b) include aviation in the EU Emissions Trading System

(ETS), (c) apply diferentiated annual circulation and registration taxes or cars based on their

CO2 emissions, and (d) ensure that all means o transport not covered by the ETS contribute to

achieving national targets or limiting greenhouse gas emissions.

Member States should meet objectives or increasing the share o renewable energy used

in road transport. The Commission is committed to sourcing % o its transport uel

consumption rom RES by (including biouels, renewable electricity and hydrogen).

The Commission has also proposed that uel suppliers reduce greenhouse gas emissions rom

uel across its lie-cycle by % by .

Local pollution

Measures to limit air pollution are ocused on limiting emissions rom new vehicles (the “EURO”

standards), vessels or recreational crat. There are also maximum levels o certain pollutants

in uels and rules to reduce emissions during uel storage and distribution. In the case o

waterborne transport, requirements exist to limit water pollution.

In terms o vehicle procurement the Commission has proposed that all public purchases o cars,

vans, buses and lorries use a methodology that takes into account the energy consumption,

CO2 and pollutant emissions costs during the vehicle’s use over its lietime.

Most new transport inrastructure projects are also subject to rules on environmental

assessment and some also to the rules on nature protection.

Noise pollution

EU measures to limit noise pollution have ocused on providing a general ramework or

assessing noise and or limiting noise emissions rom all new, motorised, inland transport

modes in the ramework o the Single Market.

Limits also exist or aircrat, and more stringent restrictions can be put in place at certain EU

airports. Airports, large towns (including their ports), heavily-used railways and roads must

also be mapped or noise, and action must be taken to reduce it where necessary. There are

also limits or tyre noise which come into orce in or replacement tyres.



Congestion

EU policy aims to move transport away rom the most congested modes, while at the same

time develop common charging rameworks. There are existing measures or charging heavy-

goods vehicles or inrastructure use and also specic requirements or rail inrastructure.

Rail, inland waterways and maritime transport receive most unding or inrastructure

provision under the Trans-European Networks and the Marco Polo programme, mainly in

order to encourage a shit rom road transport. There are measures in the air and rail sectors

that aim to increase inrastructure eciency, and work on technological improvements in the

road sector is ongoing.

All sectors will benet rom the possibilities that Galileo will ofer or eet management,

optimising transport routes to avoid congestion and preventing accidents.

Accidents

Saety has been one o the key parts o EU transport policy since its very beginning. There are

many diferent EU saety requirements or (a) new road vehicles, (b) obtaining driving licences,

(c) limiting the speed o buses and coaches, and (d) ensuring the roadworthiness o vehicles

and the inrastructure itsel.

In the maritime sector there are many measures to increase saety, prevent accidents involving

ships, passengers and crew and reduce the environmental impacts o accidents; these are all

backed up by inspections. In the aviation sector saety measures include the aircrat’s design

and maintenance, use and personnel licensing. The aviation, rail and maritime sectors have

requirements on accident investigation and reporting.

.. Getting the prices right

Capitalising on the existing policy instruments is crucial to making transport more sustainable

and addressing the diferent negative impacts o transport. As mentioned above, getting prices

right is one signicant way o doing this and is central to the Commission’s approach 383. The

Commission is thereore presenting two initiatives along with this communication that aim

to do this: a communication on internalising the external costs o transport; and a proposal torevise the existing directive on inrastructure charging or heavy goods vehicles.

Internalising the external costs o transport

This communication and its annexes contain two elements. The rst is a common ramework

or estimating the external costs o transport. This is based upon the results o Commission-

nanced work to review best practices, suggest a methodology, and produce a handbook

containing reerence values that can be used or external costs. The communication provides

guidance on how to use these values or external costs.

383 http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reerence=IP//&ormat=HTML&aged=&language=en&guiLanguage=en(accessed nd October ).



384 http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/site/en/com//com_en.pd (accessed nd October).

The second element o the communication is a strategy that sets out how external costs can

be internalised in all modes o transport. In so doing it meets the requirement o the directive

on heavy goods vehicles charging. The strategy takes into account that or some impacts

— such as noise and congestion — the costs that transport users impose on society vary in

space, time and depending on the mode in question, while or others, such as greenhousegas emissions, this is not the case. As a result the strategy is both mode and impact-specic.

In the road sector the strategy launches immediate action to allow more efective and

ecient internalisation with the proposal on inrastructure charging or heavy goods vehicles.

Private transport is not covered because o the subsidiarity principle, but the Commission

encourages Member States to implement a charging system or all road transport and not

just heavy goods vehicles as this would create incentives or all road users to change their

behaviour, thereby increasing the signicant positive impacts.

Road charging

Road transport accounts or the majority o external costs rom transport so getting the prices

right in this area is particularly urgent. At present the directive efectively stops Member States

rom making the most efective use o their tolling systems or the systems they are developing.

Charges cannot currently be calculated and varied on the basis o external costs. This means

that Member States cannot put in place sucient incentives or operators to modernise their

eet with cleaner vehicles and to adapt their route planning and logistics to make them more

sustainable.

The proposal would change this by giving Member States a ramework to better vary charges

according to the local pollution (air and noise) and congestion that the particular vehicle

causes at the time it is used. By reducing congestion it will also contribute signicantly to

reducing CO2 emissions.

To ensure that the tolls are both proportionate to the actual environmental damage and

congestion caused and that the internal market continues to work properly the Commission

is proposing that a common and transparent method is used or calculating external costs.

The directive would also insist that any revenues rom the scheme are earmarked or reducing

the environmental impacts o transport and congestion and that, ater a transition period,

charges are levied using electronic systems.

.. Green Paper: Towards a new culture or urban mobility

(COM() ) 384

The Commission proposes to encourage the emergence o a real "urban mobility culture"

integrating economic development, accessibility and improvement to quality o lie and the

environment. For this purpose, the Green Paper identies ve challenges:



Improve fuidity in towns

Congestion is one o the key urban issues. It has numerous repercussions: economic, social

and environmental. The Green Paper mentions a number o possible actions including (a)

making the modes o transport, which are capable o replacing the car, sae and appealing;

(b) encouraging co-modality; (c) encouraging walking and cycling and developing the

inrastructure or these methods o travel; (d) optimizing car use by carpooling and optimizing

"virtual mobility" (tele-working, tele-shopping, etc.); (e) implementing a parking policy

designed to reduce trac; () encouraging ollow-on connections with public transport; (g)

optimizing existing inrastructures; (h) introducing urban charges, as seen in London or in

Stockholm; (i) encouraging the introduction o Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) to enable

better trip planning; (j) encouraging the use o cleaner and smaller vehicles or making

deliveries in and around towns; and (k) improving the integration o reight distribution in

urban areas within local policy-making and institutional settings.

Reduce pollution

Although technological progress has made it possible to produce vehicles emitting lower

levels o pollution, urban areas remain a major and increasing source o CO2 emissions. Pollution

emissions have been reduced, particularly as a result o the progressive application o EURO

emission standards. A legislative ramework also exists or the use o biouels. Nevertheless,

the situation remains unsatisactory. The Commission proposes to:

- Support research and technological development o vehicles using alternative uels

(biouels, hydrogen, uel cells);

- Encourage the introduction o new technologies in the market by means o economic

incentives;

- Encourage the exchange o good practices between Member States in the area o urban

transport;

- Encourage a public procurement policy that respects the environment;

- Internalize external costs associated with energy consumption and pollution or a vehicle's

entire lie rom its introduction on the market;

- Encourage "eco driving" to enable energy consumption to be reduced, as part o training

given by driving schools; encourage the use o trac management systems (which will beimproved, particularly as a result o the Galileo programme); support the development o

more "intelligent" cars;

- Apply trac restrictions in certain cases.

Intelligent urban transport

The Galileo programme will permit the development o various applications or Intelligent

Transport Systems (ITS). These already exist but sucient use has yet to be made o them.

The Commission proposes (a) the use o smart charging systems, (b) dynamic management

o existing inrastructures using better inormation, and wider dissemination o good practicein the area o ITS.

Elderly and disabled people, as well as people with reduced mobility, are calling or easy access

to urban transport inrastructure. The parties involved in the Green Paper also consider that



co-modality deserves more attention and that greater support should be given to integrated

solutions.

In large built-up areas, there are trends towards suburbanization and urban sprawl. I

interlinking o the transport network does not take place, certain areas are at risk o social

isolation. The Commission proposes the ollowing points or consideration: (a) improve the

quality o collective transport; (b) coordinate urban and suburban transport with regional

planning; and (c) better integration o passenger and goods transport in urban planning.

Saety and security

In , , people were killed on the roads in the EU. Two thirds o these accidents and

one third o deaths occurred in an urban area. More oten than not, the victims are the most

vulnerable people, namely cyclists or pedestrians. Furthermore, the issue o public transport

saety oten puts people of using certain modes o transport. From a range o possible options,

the Commission proposes (a) the improvement o vehicle saety using new technologies, (b)the improvement o the quality o inrastructures, especially or pedestrians and cyclists, and

(c) the encouragement o people to be more aware o their behavior with regard to road

saety.

Towards a new culture or urban mobility

The Green Paper also stresses the need to elicit an urban mobility culture by means o education,

training and raising awareness. The EU could initiate training and discussion activities, such as

organizing a European campaign to raise public awareness o urban mobility; strengthening

the harmonization o statistics rom the various Member States and implementing commondenitions; and setting up an observatory aimed at collecting, harmonizing and using the

necessary data or policy-makers and or the general public which is also aimed at promoting

the exchange o good practice.

The Green Paper proposes several options or nancing the proposed measures: (a) more

consistent use o existing nancial instruments, such as the Structural Funds and the Cohesion

Fund, or the development o an integrated and sustainable urban transport system; (b)

establishment o market-based mechanisms, such as the Emissions Trading Scheme; (c)

contributions rom the traveller, the private sector, and rom public-private partnerships to

the nancing o urban and suburban collective transport.



. Sustainable Mobility: Current Situation in theGreek Cypriot Community

The current situation concerning sustainable transportation/mobility in Cyprus is quite

disappointing. Cyprus is currently lacking the necessary inrastructure or ecient use o

public transportation. The main reasons behind this situation are the ollowing 385:

(a) Most o the town-building development during the ‘s and the ‘s was made based on

diferent to today’s priorities and needs. This led to a rash development without too much

order and without taking into account neither the principles o sustainable transportation

nor the ecient use o public transportation means. Town zones were opening but their

access was only designed or the use o private cars.

(b) The old buses which have been in use until recently, the limited number o routes, the

non-punctual time-schedule and the lack o inrastructure, have been the reasons or thedevelopment o a negative culture o Cypriots against public transport.

The main principles o sustainable mobility providing or (a) reasonable access to other people,

places, goods and services, (b) health and saety, (c) pollution prevention, (d) ecient land and

resource use, and (e) uller cost accounting, are still not adopted in ull neither by legislation

nor in practice by citizens. It is understood that in order or Cyprus to ully implement the

principles o sustainable transportation, there should also be a change in the mentality and

behavioural habits o Cypriots (use o public transport, use o bicycles, purchase o hybrid cars,

etc.).

.. Public transportation

The Cyprus government is currently concentrating in the promotion o the access principle

with the adoption o a series o measures: (a) gradual renewal o the eet o buses; (b) increase

o the bus-routes within the towns; (c) introduction o night routes or the servicing o tourists

but also or Cypriot citizens; (d) introduction o peripheral routes within towns; (e) more

requent and punctual time-schedules; ( ) requent connections between the towns and the

suburbs; and (g) requent routes between towns 386.

A necessary ingredient or the success o public transportation is the public condence in the

requency, punctuality and time eciency (as a ast means o transportation) o the public

transport system. These parameters would require the creation o bus lanes, which currently

do not exist.

One o the major reasons why the public transport system in Cyprus has ailed in the past

is because o the low population density o the island, which makes it dicult to achieve

economies o scale.

385 Cyprus interview, Eleni Mavrou, Mayor o Nicosia Municipality, Nicosia, January .386 Nicos Nicolaides, “Green Paper on Public Transport”, Ministry o Communications & Works, May .


http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/navigating-the-paradigm-shift 93/104SUSTAINABLE MOBILITY: CURRENT SITUATION IN THE GREEK CYPRIOT COMMUNITY 93

387 Cyprus , stakeholder panel, Nicosia, march .388 Cyprus interview, Eleni Mavrou, Mayor o Nicosia Municipality, Nicosia, January .

The rst attempt or the upgrade o public transportation was made with the adoption o

bus routes between the airport and the towns as well as the adoption o school buses. Both

actions are very successul at the moment servicing thousands o students and local and

oreign travellers. Although this has been a good start, the uture success o these programmes

will depend upon maintaining the proper unctioning o the routes and the good state o thebuses (i.e. clean and comortable transport means).

Other means o public transportation are also on the current agenda o the Ministry o

Communication & Works. Demand Responsive Transport (DRT) is an alternative public

transport which acts similarly to taxis but is much cheaper. DRT does not compete with bus

routes but rather completes this service. Additionally, a light-rail network connecting Limassol,

Nicosia and Larnaca is also under discussion 387.

The development o a public transportation network covering a whole district is a very

costly project. That is why Cyprus authorities are considering the development o networks

connecting the centre o the towns with large bus stations right outside the town centre. That

would be easier and aster to implement. One o the ideas currently being discussed is the

development o transport systems or public employees working in nearby buildings. Instead

o the government trying to construct large parking places within the town centre to serve

these employees, it is more convenient or employees to park their cars at the bus stations

(with large parking spaces) outside the centre and get to their working places by bus. That

would discharge the centre rom trac and parking needs.

Another issue in deploying ecient public transportation networks is the need or coordination

between various authorities since routes need to cross over many municipalities. The ultimate

party in charge or the development o such networks is the town-planning department o

the Ministry o Interior 388.

.. Environmental protection

Presently, little is done on the protection o the environment when it comes to transportation.

The only environmental efect is the indirect benet to the environment by the eforts or

promoting public transportation means that would result to the reduction o use o private

cars. There have only been some sporadic eforts by municipalities to introduce transportation

means that do not emit CO2 (use o RES, electric cars, hydrogen cars) but there has not been

any coherent policy towards this direction. Since the majority o these authorities do not need

to make routes outside the towns, the use o these cars does not impair their unctionality; on

the other hand they benet the environment (by not harming it) as well as giving the good

example to citizens in adopting such technologies. The lack o the necessary inrastructure is

a major drawback or the deployment o such systems.

On the principle o “greener” transportation, the EU has set a minimum target to each

Member State or replacing % o transport uel with renewable ones (biouels, hydrogen,

'green' electricity, etc.) by . Biouels must meet agreed sustainability criteria. European

Commission, in its Renewable Energy Roadmap and Biouels Progress Report (), shows

that Cyprus has made % progress towards the national target o replacing petrol and

diesel in transport with renewable energy, which was set at a percentage o .%.



. Sustainable Mobility: Current Situation in the Turkish Cypriot Community

As ar as the transportation system in the northern part o Cyprus is concerned, there is a widespreadbelie among the experts that there is much that needs to be done on the management side o

the issue. For instance, in an interview published in daily Kibris, highlighting the lack o trac

education, the insuciency o trac controls, and aws in trac engineering, Taner Aksu, a

veteran trac engineer concludes that ‘our trac system is a ailure 389’. Similarly, Metin Kunt, the

head o the Trac Education and Research Center at the EMU, points out that there are ‘no

ormal’ management o inrastructure; congestion management or trac management 390.

‘Management o inrastructure, congestion management and trac management are taking

place as a reaction to the immediate problems, not as a well established ormal process,’

he says 391. In a similar vein, Şenay Kebapçı, the director o the trac branch o the Police

Department, identies ‘the lack o coordination’ as the biggest problem in trac 39.

.. Public Transportation

Public transportation in the northern part o Cyprus is ar rom living up to the expectations

o a modern city dweller. As Metin Kunt points out in a recent conerence paper, ‘an aged

eet o vehicles, unreliable timetables, limited routes, insucient bus stops, 393’ are what we

observe when we talk about public transportation within cities in the northern part o Cyprus.

Inter-city bus services, which are provided solely by the private sector, are not any better.

Furthermore, the transportation services in diferent cities are not in harmony 394.

.. Increasing Number o Private Cars

In the absence o a comortable and reliable public transportation system, the number o

private cars is rising with a tremendous speed. The number o motorized vehicles per capita

is much higher than the EU average 395. Between and , , new vehicles were

registered, percent o which were private cars and motorcycles 396. In alone, almost

, joined the eet 397. ‘The rising number o private cars and insuciency o public

transportation’ are actors worsening the trac problem, according to Şenay Kebapçı 398.

Obviously, the increasing number o private cars is also leading to a rise in the consumption

o uel. Although, the quality o regular petrol used in the northern part o Cyprus complies

with EU standards, the type o diesel uel used is ar below the standard in the EU according

to the PFAA 399. ‘For the widespread use o euro diesel, which is a higher quality diesel uel’

389 Cited in Aral Moral: Traikte Denetim Sıır, Kıbrıs, April .390 Mehmet Metin Kunt: Transportation System in Northern Cyprus: I nrastructure, Operation and Management, in I ntegrating Transport

in a Reuniied Cyprus, Nicosia: Reconstruction and Resettlement Council, , p. .391 Ibid.392 Cited in Özgül Mutluyakalı ( TAK): İşte 'nin traik bilançosu: ölü, yaralı, Kıbrıs, January .393 Mehmet Metin Kunt: Transportation System in Northern Cyprus: I nrastructure, Operation and Management, in I ntegrating Transport

in a Reuniied Cyprus, Nicosia: Reconstruction and Resettlement Council, , p. .394 Ibid.395 Kıbrıs Türk Ulaşım Ağı ile İlgili Fizibilite Araştırması, Final Raporu: Traik Güvenliği Araştırması, p. .396 Kıbrıs Türk Ulaşım Ağı ile İlgili Fizibilite Araştırması, Final Raporu: Traik Güvenliği Araştırması, p. .397 Özgül Mutluyakalı (TAK): İşte 'nin traik bilançosu: ölü, yaralı, Kıbrıs, January .398 Cited in Özgül Mutluyakalı ( TAK): İşte 'nin traik bilançosu: ölü, yaralı, Kıbrıs, January .399 PFAA, : .


http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/navigating-the-paradigm-shift 95/104SUSTAINABLE MOBILITY: CURRENT SITUATION IN THE TURKISH CYPRIOT COMMUNITY 95

400 PFAA, : .401 Cited in Gözde Süreç: Lekoşa’da hava kirliliği, AB standartlarına göre hala yüzde oranında azla, Kıbrıs, November .402 Kıbrıs Türk Ulaşım Ağı ile İlgili Fizibilite Araştırması, Final Raporu: Traik Güvenliği Araştırması, p. .403 Kıbrıs Türk Ulaşım Ağı ile İlgili Fizibilite Araştırması, Final Raporu: Traik Güvenliği Araştırması, p. .404 Cited in Mutluyakalı .405 Cyprus interview, January .

the Programme notes, ‘it is required to increase the number o new technology diesel engine

vehicles using this uel 400’.

.. Air Pollution

The rising number o private cars on the one hand, and the poor quality o diesel uel on the

other, is inevitably making another problem, air pollution, worse. The research conducted by

the Environment Department in revealed that the level o air pollution in the northern

part o Nicosia is % above the EU standard. According to Hülya Altan, the director o the

Environment Department, trac is one o the main reasons o this situation. ‘Introduction o

compulsory exhaust emission tests in ’ to address this problem proved successul, she

adds, at least in alleviation o the problem i not in solving the problem once and or all 401.

.. Road Saety

A recent study conducted on trac saety ound that the rate o trac atalities and injuries

in the northern part o Cyprus is ar above the EU average 40. The number o people who

lost their lives in road accidents in the northern part o Cyprus in , or instance was .

per , residents, while the EU average stood at .. Despite the severity o the

problem, the study stated, ‘no comprehensive plan or strategy has been devised to reduce

road accidents and atalities’ 403. The only concrete step, taken a ew years ater this study had

been completed, was the introduction o speed cameras. According to Şenay Kebapçı, thishelped in reducing the number o road accidents with atality by percent compared to a

year earlier 404.

.. Walking and Cycling

As one o our stakeholders put it, there is a ‘cultural prejudice’ against walking, and cycling 405,

which are considered as the healthiest orms o mobility. Furthermore, motorists do not

respect the pedestrians and cyclists in trac, making it quite dangerous or the ones whopreer to walk or cycle.

Inadequate inrastructure is another problem. Sidewalks are insucient; not continuous (i.e.

there are gaps in the network); blocked by parked vehicles; and generally in a poor state o repair.

As long as inrastructure or cycling is concerned, we see that the only town with bike lanes,

Kyrenia, alls short o being a success story, as the route is too short, and parked cars are

blocking some parts o the bike lane most o the time, rendering widespread adoption o

cycling as an alternative mode o transportation almost impossible.



. Sustainable Mobility: Future Directions or Cyprus

Several meetings o mobility stakeholders, including Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot town

planners, mobility experts, and others with an interest in mobility issues, were convened bythe Cyprus initiative in February and March . The stakeholders were presented

with the research ndings o Cyprus staf in relation to global trends, EU polices and

current situation in Cyprus, and were asked, on the basis o this situation, to ormulate

relevant policy recommendations or the uture o Cyprus. The ollowing is a summary o their


.. Accepting sustainable mobility as a social good

It is important to acknowledge that mobility is not just a technical matter to be resolved at a

technical level by the appropriate bureaucracies, but also a social good with signicant impact

on the daily lie o citizens and their overall quality o lie. In this respect, it can be likened to

health and education, sectors which state authorities routinely supervise to ensure quality,

access, and equity. This culture o treating mobility as a social good, where state planning and

investment eforts deserve to be directed, must begin to permeate public opinion and the

policy making process in Cyprus i the necessary steps or change are to be undertaken.

.. Moving beyond the private car culture: Some alternativemeans to achieve mobility

Improving the conventional public transport system

Though there is a maximum ceiling to the percent o the population that can be expected

to use public transport in Cyprus even under the best o circumstances, even a small

percent improvement in the use o public transport will imply signicant improvements as

regards congestion and carbon emission challenges. Increasing the use o public transport

is contingent on making the system more attractive, comortable, accessible and reliable.

Converting to a Bus Rapid Transit or Tram system could be considered as a method orachieving all these challenges simultaneously.

Demand Responsive Transport as a complement to conventional public transport modes

For the case o Cyprus, a smart complement to conventional public transport would be the

development o intra-urban Demand Responsive Transport (DRT) grids in all major cities. DRT

combines elements o both a bus network and a taxi service: Individual users can call ahead

to book a route, which they will then share with several other users on similar routes, enjoying

the benets o a taxi service but paying a ee that is closer to a bus ticket.

DRT grids would work best i they are integrated within each city, while individual participating

companies can be responsible or diferent routes within the grid. Such a scheme could gain

wide appeal both with work commuters and with school / aternoon lessons commuters,

thus contributing to the de-congestion o urban areas and greater energy eciency / lower

carbon ootprint per passenger transported.


http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/navigating-the-paradigm-shift 97/104SUSTAINABLE MOBILITY: FUTURE DIRECTIONS FOR CYPRUS 97

Plugging the holes in pavement grids

Currently, opting to be a pedestrian in Cypriot urban areas is not a workable proposition, given

that pavement grids are in most locations incomplete, or disjointed, or made impassable by the

presence o parked cars and overgrowing vegetation, and other obstacles. This problematic

situation is due to shortcomings in relevant rules and legislations, since the responsibility or

developing pavements rests with the owners o individual properties to which the planned

pavement would be adjacent. This may save some money or the state, but it also means

that until an owner chooses to develop a plot – i ever – the pavement grid will display a gap

adjacent to the undeveloped property.

To have a unctional pavement grid, it is essential that planning oces take ull responsibility

or its development in accordance with a mobility strategy and in line with established quality

standards 406. Individual property owners can still be asked to cover the cost o the pavement

network, since they would also stand to benet, but this could take the orm o a tax, levied

on owners o adjacent properties as a pavement is being developed.

Once the mechanism is thus in place to control the quality and ow o pavement grids, then

all sorts o possibilities can be considered: Including bicycle routes as well as pedestrian

routes on the pavements, ensuring that cars will not be able to mount pavements, ensuring

that overgrown vegetation does not block pedestrian or bicycle ow, ensuring access or

individuals with limited mobility etc. Walking and cycling are both activities where the rule

that “supply generates demand” very much applies.

.. Enhancing mobility to increase contact between the twocommunities

In the specic case o Cyprus, mobility issues are not only linked to sustainability concerns,

but are an integral part o the Cyprus Problem. Even though some crossing points have been

open since , contact between the two communities remains low and is mostly limited

to areas immediately adjacent to the crossing points. Thus, enhancing physical mobility

between the two communities is a undamental prerequisite or increasing contact and thus

raising levels o trust between the two communities. In this regard, the ollowing proposals

are hereby submitted:

Planning or an island-wide road network

I Cyprus were to be united tomorrow, there would be severe problems in road circulation

and especially highway / ring road connectivity. Just like the Nicosia Master Plan allowed

joint planning o the road network or the centre o Nicosia, so could an island-wide mobility

master plan allow joint planning or highways, ring roads, and the road network in general,

with a view to being prepared or the day when there will no longer be a bufer zone limiting

the mobility o citizens. The design process should not just be about connecting the grid, but

also about establishing island-wide quality standards or better road saety.

406 The Limassol Municipality tree-planting on pavements policy (http://www.limassolmunicipal.com.cy/trees/index.html) is a localauthority initiative in the direction o improving the pavement grid. In the context o a mobility strategy such policies would need tobe implemented at an island-wide level.



Multi-lingual road signs

Having road signs in both Greek and Turkish across the island was actually one o the proposals

ormally agreed by the inter-communal technical committees, tough it is as yet unclear when

exactly this decision will be implemented. Indeed, when this measure is implemented it will have

a very powerul impact on mobility levels island-wide. Currently, people who requently crossto the other community resort to using maps with translated place names in order to nd their

bearings, given that the names that the ‘other community’ uses or villages, towns, and even large

cities, bear little resemblance to any name by which the visitor could recognize such locations.

From a road saety viewpoint, it is important to ensure that the increased amount o

inormation on road-signs does not lead to the distraction o drivers. A way to achieve this

would be i or each language there is a specic background colour code, with which drivers

will quickly become amiliarized, thus quickly identiying the inormation that is relevant to

them rom such multi-lingual road signs.

A light rail island-wide network The concept o a light rail network linking major towns in the south is already under

consideration in the Greek Cypriot community. However, there are concerns that, initially at

least, such an undertaking might be unprotable nancially.

I however such a light rail network is designed to include all major cities in Cyprus, starting

with Nicosia-Lekosa and rom there branching out north towards Girne-Kyrenia, south

towards Larnaca, west towards Limassol and east towards Gazimagusa-Famagusta, then the

increased trac by visitors rom the other community could increase the overall nancial

viability o the project. Beyond the gains in terms o enhancing sustainability by reducing

motorway passenger and reight trac, such a light rail network would revolutionize inter-

communal contact by creating opportunities to comortably visit the other community well

beyond the “usual suspect areas”, in the vicinity o the crossing points.

For the light rail network to be successul, the location o city stations must be considered

strategically. A way to maximize demand would be i the stations are located in the vicinity o

major cities, close to large shopping malls and other such developments i their owners are

willing to contribute nancially, but then also linked with a tram or BRT service leading into

the historic centre o each town.

.. Designing the uture o mobility together

A Joint Transport Research Centre

A research centre or sustainable mobility issues, with participant researchers rom both

communities, would make a vital contribution in the process o urther developing some

o the above or other proposals or sustainable mobility, by collecting data and conducting

studies that will inorm the decision making process in the context o a cohesive Mobility

Master Plan that can then be implemented by the appropriate authorities.

A Technical Committee or Mobility and Transportation issues

Such a technical committee , under the auspices o the leaders o the two communities, could

supervise the implementation o an island-wide mobility master plan, especially in elements

that will require close co-operation between the two communities, such as synchronizing thehighway grid and developing an island-wide light rail network.

407 The work proposed here could also be subsumed under an existing Technical Committee, i such an approach is seen as morepractical and easible



PART V

Conclusions and

Recommendations


http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/navigating-the-paradigm-shift 101/104CATCHING WITH THE GLOBAL PARADIGM SHIFT: SOME CRITICAL PRIORITIES 101

. Catching Up with the Global Paradigm Shit:Some Critical Priorities

Over the last ew decades, while the two communities in Cyprus have been pre-occupied

with the complexities and challenges o their relationship and political uture, the global

community has quietly been undergoing a paradigm shit in social-economic afairs, at

the centre o which has been the concept o sustainability. Initially as a response to the oil

crises o the s and s, sustainable development has gradually grown to represent a

comprehensive way o looking at the world and relating to resources.

While Cyprus can reasonably plead extenuating circumstances or not having been able to

contribute so ar to this global agenda, the time to act is now: A combination o unsustainable,

inecient and wasteul patterns o energy and resource use, with a total reliance on ossil uels

at an age when oil supplies might be peaking with producers becoming increasingly reluctant

to share resources that they need or their growing populations, means that Cyprus and its

economy are at a very precarious position – not to mention the obvious environmental and

social efects o unsustainable development practices, that have long been having a negative

impact on the island.

For many in Cyprus, it may seem that solving the long standing political dispute between

the two communities is the central existential issue, on which everything else hinges and

on which thereore all political eforts should be ocused. Without wishing to minimize

the signicance o working to achieve a political settlement, we emphasize the point

that achieving sustainability is also a critical issue, i the survival and wellbeing o both

communities on this island is to be guaranteed in the long term. Moreover, the challenge o

sustainability also represents an opportunity or the two communities to work together, in a

set o issues in which more ecient and efective solutions can be achieved through inter-

communal collaboration than through unilateral action. In the context o a peace process all

too requently dominated by conrontational and zero sum game narratives, the condence

building potential o working together and achieving demonstrable progress in sustainability

related issues becomes both a need and an opportunity that should not be underestimated.

In the domain o energy sustainability, it is o vital importance or both communities to begin

the transition to renewable energy sources, in a manner that is both dynamic and ambitious.

Cyprus is extremely well situated, as a Mediterranean country within the EU, to urther research

and develop solar energy systems. CSP technology – concentrated solar power – is already

mature, and it does hold the promise o not only covering Cyprus’ electricity generation

needs, but also contributing signicantly to the resolution o Cyprus’ chronic water shortage,

as CSP technologies can produce desalinated water alongside the generation o electricity, all

ree rom the use o ossil uels. A CSP power plant, suitably located along the bufer zone near

the coastline, is a potential pilot project o high symbolic and practical value, which the two

communities could implement together.

Regarding water sustainability, it is essential to acknowledge the drastic impact on the climate

o Cyprus that unsustainable water use practices – especially drilling rom and depleting

permanent aquiers – can have. In this regard, the emphasis should be placed on arming

practices, which currently consume more than % o water supplies through inecient

watering methods and inappropriate, water-intensive choices o crops. To address these issues

a participatory dialogue process is called or, which should include armers, water experts and

other appropriate stakeholders rom both communities, leading to a comprehensive water

strategy which adequately addresses the challenge o desertication.



Working towards sustainable construction practices is also a vital component o any

sustainability strategy or Cyprus. Over-construction in both communities, coupled with

unsustainable construction practices, has led to a sharp increase in energy bills and an equivalent

decrease in quality o lie. A rst step to remedy this situation should be the commissioning o

a sustainable construction planning guide, which would integrate international best practiceswith Cyprus’ architectural traditions. This planning guide – to be designed by architects,

engineers and other appropriate experts rom both communities – would then serve as the

basis o an incentive management policy, a public awareness campaign and a proessional

accreditation system, all geared towards the successul implementation o sustainable

construction principles in Cyprus.

In the domain o sustainable mobility, it should be noted that both communities are still

rmly in the grip o the private car culture. Addressing this challenge also ofers signicant

opportunities or co-operation between the two communities: Most notably, ideas currently

being explored separately in each community or a light rail system linking the various

cities, could be incorporated into a broader vision or an island-wide light rail network, romLimassol to Famagusta and rom Larnaca to Kyrenia. Beyond the sustainability benets o such

a proposal, the act that an island-wide light rail network would sharply increase daily contact

between members o the two communities, also argues in avour o its implementation.


http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/navigating-the-paradigm-shift 103/104 TOWARDS A SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT MASTER PLAN FOR CYPRUS 103

. Towards a Sustainable Development MasterPlan or Cyprus

Finding ways and mechanisms to agree on and then jointly implement policies, has been

a major challenge or the two communities o Cyprus ever since the s. One successul

example o co-operation between the two communities has been the ‘Nicosia Master Plan’

which has been developed and periodically rened by successive mayors o the Greek Cypriot

and Turkish Cypriot municipalities o Nicosia. The Nicosia Master Plan has made it possible

or Nicosia to continue growing over the years as one city despite the dividing line that

geographically separates the city right down the middle. Essentially, the Nicosia Master Plan

is a commonly agreed but separately implemented blueprint or development. As such, it

sets an important precedent which can be applied to the broader challenge o a Sustainable

Development blueprint or the whole o Cyprus. In other words, it may be possible to

commonly agree but separately implement a comprehensive and integrated Sustainable

Development strategy or Cyprus, even under the current circumstances o division.

Specically it is proposed that a suitably mandated technical committee 408, under the auspices

o the two leaders, could serve as the central coordinating body responsible or the design o

such a Sustainable Development Master Plan, in much the same way as the meetings o the

Nicosia mayors and their teams have produced the Nicosia Master Plan. Once the Sustainable

Development Master Plan has been designed, each community would be separately

responsible to implement it through its own appropriate departments and authorities. I in

the mean time a political settlement is reached, responsibility or the implementation o the

Sustainable Development Master Plan will be transerred to the Federal government and the

Constituent states.

Issues and themes that a Sustainable Development Master Plan or Cyprus might cover,

include:

• A comprehensive energy strategy or Cyprus, detailing the mix o conventional and

renewable energy sources that are to be aimed or, coupled with reliable projections on

uture energy use patterns and methods to encourage energy eciency and conservation.

• A comprehensive water strategy or Cyprus, which will include plans or the appropriate

use and/or rehabilitation o all surace waters and aquiers, with reliable projections on

uture water use patterns, administrative reorms to integrate water management systems

within each community, and a plan to increase sustainable water supplies while avoidingwaste at all levels.

• A comprehensive strategy or sustainable construction that will address issues o

motivation, awareness and expertise in relation to sustainable construction practices,

while instigating specic urban-level pilot projects as a way o showcasing the potential

o sustainable construction and building up relevant know-how.

• A comprehensive strategy or sustainable mobility, that will on the one hand establish

guidelines or intra-city mobility with a special emphasis on pedestrianization and the use

o bicycles, whilst at an inter-city level ensuring compatibility across the two communities

o the secondary road, ring road, and motorway networks even as an island-wide light rail

network is being designed.

408 The already unctioning “Inter-Communal Technical Committee on the Environment” might, with appropriate modiications, be asuitable vehicle or the design o a Sustainable Development Master Plan or Cyprus.

navigating the paradigm shift

Documents