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- Ελληνικά
Environment Commissioner Dr Maria Panagiotou participated today in a tree planting in the community of Tercefano. The tree planting is the first of a series of tree plantings of deep rooted fruit trees and shrubs, which will be carried out in the framework of the LIFE AgrOassis project co-funded by the European Union. The tree plantings focus on areas that are on the path of desertification due to climate change.
At the launch of the tree planting, the Environment Commissioner said the following: "Today we have not started an ordinary tree planting. Today we have launched the implementation of an innovation that is being developed for the first time in Europe and which leads to the development of drought-adapted deep-rooted seedlings already in the nursery. This is the innovation of the LIFE-AgrOassis project, under which academic institutions and relevant public service departments, with the support of the Office of the Environment Commissioner, are joining forces with volunteers to plant these deep-rooted seedlings.
Our aim is to create planting hedges in degraded rural areas at risk of desertification and which are estimated to become even more vulnerable as a result of climate change. This is a collective effort that aims to deliver measurable positive results and specific good practices that contribute to our adaptation to the impacts of climate change.
We start today with a triple objective. To plant 11,000 deep-rooted trees and shrubs by 2026, to regenerate our degraded agricultural land by making Cyprus' agro-ecosystems more resilient to climate change, and third, to engage citizens in this educational process of tree planting through which we gain a practical understanding of the important role trees play in the balance of the ecosystem and in ensuring a healthy and sustainable future.
I owe a big thank you to the volunteers who are joining forces with us today, the company Vassos Eliades Ltd, the Cyprus Police, the Cyprus Association of Civil Engineers and Architects, the organization "Right to Hope for People with Disabilities", the Charalambos and Elena Pattichi Foundation, and other organized groups that will participate in the next tree plantings. At the same time I must congratulate the 14 partners of the LIFE AgrOassis project for this very important effort."
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