The disputed water of Cyprus, the island suffering from drought

World Water Day, a global campaign set up by the United Nations for 22 March, this year has as its theme “Be the change” to encourage changes in the way we use, consume and manage water resources. There is an Italian Frances Grecowho has made the UN exhortation her study and life project, a commitment that recently earned her a award for “the most innovative idea on water”.

Francesca Greco, 45, originally from Orvieto but now a citizen of the world, is an international expert in water and food policy, with over 20 years of experience in the fields of transboundary aquifers, gender and water, water footprint and virtual water, governance of ‘waterfall. However, you came to deal with this issue through your interest in geopolitical conflicts. “I have a degree in international and diplomatic sciences – she says – and while I was studying at the University of Rome I dealt with the water conflict between Israel and Palestine. The topic of water fascinated me and I would have liked to continue studying water policiesbut since there wasn’t a professorship in Italy I went to London, where together with Professor Tony Allan, the theorist of the concept of virtual water, we founded the London Water research Group”.

Greco has had experience at the UN and with environmental NGOs in sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and Europe, in Italy he regularly lectures on water policy and water diplomacy at ISPI and the UNISG University of Gastronomic Sciences. But now she is in Cyprus, where her activity has earned her the award from CyprusInno, a social startup that uses entrepreneurship as a peace-building mechanism. Greco was awarded and invited to work in the buffer zone of the island on her project “Water Is One: promote water cooperation and awareness of water issues in Cyprus for both communities of the island“.

“The water-food-energy links are the most important and vulnerable assets for any community that wants to develop a sustainable future in the light of climate change and for a peaceful future – explains the scholar – Water, especially in Cyprus, is even more precious in light of the uncertainty of weather and climate change, rising temperatures in the eastern Mediterranean climate zoneand as a resource that generates income and life for all communities living on the island”.

The “Water is one” project therefore aims to promote environmental awareness of the groundwater and surface waters of Cyprus. “The project will collect the opinions, proposals for joint actions and the overall perception of water issues in Cyprus by both communities of the island – explains Greco -, including women from rural areas, young people and citizens of urban environments, the water experts of the research institutions and networks.The collection of their ideas in the framework of a bi-municipal experience and the publication of their opinions and perceptions on water in three languages, Greek, Turkish and English, will be the main results of the ‘action”.

The data

The UN: preserving groundwater means guaranteeing us a future

by Francesca Greco*

March 21, 2022

“In Cyprus, after the Turkish invasion in 1974, the island was divided into an area controlled by the self-proclaimed “Republic of Northern Cyprus, not recognized except by Turkey itself and a few other countries. – continues – The Republic of Cyprus , a country belonging to the European Union, has not yet been successful in finalizing, despite the help of the United Nations, a solution to the so-called Cyprus Problem.The island is therefore effectively separated by a wall and a Green Line which cuts horizontally the territory from east to west, creating a real hinge between the north and south of the island.To unite these two realities there is the so-called buffer zones of the United Nations, where the peacekeepers operate”.

In such a problematic context, the water issue is not secondary: “Water in Cyprus, as in all desert areas of the Mediterranean, is a precious resource and threatened by climate change. Among the UN Sustainable Development Goals, number 6, dedicated to water, also talks about how to improve cross-border water cooperation between different states – says Greco – A greater problem when states do not recognize each other, as happens in Cyprus, and a technical or merely monitoring management is practically impossible”.

Thus, the “Water is one” project, after drafting an initial project proposal which has already received the first funds from the IHE Delft Institute for Water Education, in the Netherlands, aims to get Cypriots talking: interviewing them (there are 100 interviews) and ask them about their perception of water in Cyprus. “We ask them if they know where their water comes from, if they know how it is protected and how it is managed. Their ideas, including projects, to create innovative and joint solutions, will be collected by me and reported through various communication channels in Greek, Turkish and English. I will use infographics, social media, a website and 10 video and radio podcasts are also planned, plus a final report, which will also result in a scientific publication”, explains the creator of the project.

“This of course is only the beginning of “Water is One”, an idea that will then be left to the project participants themselves – he adds – Their ideas, their opinions, will be made to reverberate in the hope that a joint management of Cyprus’ waters can be felt by the population as necessary and urgent. The project also envisages other methods of dissemination: I would like to finance a photographic report by three photographers – one Turkish Cypriot, one Greek Cypriot and one international – who would travel together to the water landscapes of the island: the water recycling plants, the springs of the high altitude mountains, the rural areas, the fruit and vegetable plantations.I would like the water of Cyprus to be seen, as a single photograph, which needs no words nor of tongues to be explained”.

Soon Greco’s research on water and drought and water and power could be of interest to the Italian context. “Especially in times of drought like the one we are experiencing, water conflicts also exist within a united country like ours, because they occur at a regional and sub-regional level. With climate change, these disputes will become increasingly frequent and we will increasingly have to realize that drought is linked to agri-food exports. I’ll give you an example: we started growing kiwis in Lazio without asking ourselves where the water to water them comes from and how a new cultivation can impact water resources – concludes Francesca Greco -. All agri-food production will have to be reconverted taking into account climate change and available water resources”.