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It is with great pleasure that we, as the Office of the Environment Commissioner, are co-organizing, with the Cyprus Centre for Environmental Research & Education (CERSEE), we are pleased to co-organise, as the Office of the Environment Commissioner, the award ceremony of the Cyprus Green Cities and Green Communities Awards and the Cyprus Environmental Awards for Organisations and Enterprises for the year 2023, an institution which the Office of the Environment Commissioner has supported since its inception. After all, this is the role of the Office of the Environment Commissioner, to seek and support the horizontal alignment of policies and efforts of government agencies, business, local authorities and civil society on environmental issues.
As we are in the midst of serious ecological challenges, the importance of collective efforts to protect the environment is immense. The planet and humanity are facing and need to manage the enormous impacts of climate change, biodiversity loss, air, soil and water pollution, and other environmental issues that also endanger human life.
In these challenges we face, therefore, the need for innovation, cooperation and active participation is imperative.
Tonight we are here to award cities, communities, organisations and businesses that have distinguished themselves for their environmental action.
As the Office of the Environment Commissioner, as part of the policy of this administration, I also declare our commitment to the structured promotion of good, integrated and comprehensive practices that will make urban areas as well as rural areas sustainable.
Sustainable development is an arduous process, involving a wide and complex range of practices and principles, often involving conflicting interests, the implementation of which, however, has the potential to save the planet and humanity. Any superficial adoption of sustainable practices is not enough; an integrated sustainable development strategy requires specificity, commitment, coherence and consistency of action.
Exemplary sustainable practices need to be rigorously designed and implemented comprehensively, not piecemeal, addressing not only immediate environmental challenges but also promoting long-term stewardship and resilience. At the same time, they need to be mainstreamed and implemented in every aspect of our daily lives, from the products we consume to the policies we implement.
Municipalities and communities, organisations and businesses have an important role to play in environmental action. These are the bodies that have the organisational background and human resources, and who can make a substantial contribution to the implementation of the Government's environmental policy plans, such as the measures under the European Green Deal and the Green Transition, concerning green business, waste reduction, sustainable use of water and energy and the transition to a climate-neutral economy and society.
Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Mr. I also congratulate all the organisations participating as co-organisers and as members of the scientific evaluation committees, the Union of Cyprus Municipalities and the Union of Cyprus Communities, the Cyprus University of Technology (CUT), the Federation of Employers and Industrialists (OEB), the Cyprus Association of Tourism Enterprises (STEK), the Limassol Association of Women Entrepreneurial Professionals (OGEE Limassol), the Cyprus Scientific and Technical Chamber (ETEK) and the Cyprus Energy Office.
The Office of the Environment Commissioner has over the years had a very close cooperation with the CECI and our aim is to enrich our joint actions, such as, among others, the organization of the 1st Conference of the Green Cities and Green Communities Network of Cyprus, to strengthen their environmental actions on the path towards climate neutrality, as well as the co-organization of a scientific conference on climate change and the resulting challenges in various sectors, and the co-organization of a scientific conference on climate change and its challenges in various sectors.
In conclusion, my warm congratulations to the awardees, cities and communities, organisations and businesses as well as local authorities.
Thank you.
(ASP)
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