Reforest Nicosia
Our Mission
Where we are now
If you thought it was getting hotter in Cyprus, it is. Scientifically hotter. That’s because we’re already experiencing the impact of global warming on our island. Meteorological changes, rising temperatures, melting glaciers, rising sea levels, forest fires — they’re not on the horizon anymore. They’re our reality now.
If you look at scientific predictions, the situation gets even bleaker. Temperatures in Cyprus, our own scientists say, will continue to rise. In a matter of decades, we’ll be living in a desert.
However, the game isn’t up yet.
Scientists around the world agree on one thing. Reforestation can help combat climate change, soil erosion, and desertification, and it can help bring down temperatures in our cities.
As long as we act now.
Where we need to get
Redesigning our cities to make them greener is a huge challenge, but it’s the challenge of our times. 70% of the world's carbon dioxide emissions come from large urban centers like Nicosia. The rising temperatures we mentioned above aren’t making things any easier. Higher temperatures mean trees grow slower and stunted, or even die.
Couple that with wildfires (now at their 10,000-year peak) and a steady uptick in tree-eating organisms and pathogens, and doing nothing is literally securing our own extinction.
Although big cities around the world have already begun to work out solutions, we in Cyprus have a long way to go. We need to start fundamentally reimagining our cities: how we get around, how we power our homes, how we rebalance our microclimates.
Ditching cars for public transportation and bikes is one way we can start greening our cities. Using clean energy and creating more green spaces is another. The latter, in fact, may be our best shot at bringing CO2 emissions down to livable levels.
Why we chose trees
We chose mass tree planting to combat global warming because it’s economically sustainable and has a bunch of benefits we’ll start seeing in our communities immediately.
First, and most crucially, trees absorb the massive amounts of CO2 we pour into the air. They suck the bad stuff out and use it for photosynthesis, and then breathe out oxygen in return, making our city air cleaner.
When you plant enough trees, they help protect against flooding and soil erosion because their underground root systems hold the soil in place and absorb rainwater, making our houses and buildings safer.
Trees also reduce ground and air temperatures, providing refreshing shade in the dog days of summer. And they preserve biodiversity, hosting healthy organisms and animals in their foliage. If we plant fruit trees, which do very well in the dry, arid climate of Cyprus, trees can even make us money when we gather and sell their fruits!
Our initiative
Reforest Nicosia follows the guidelines of European Union Biodiversity Strategy 2030, which is figuring out ways to replenish the biodiversity of our communities and rescue our ecosystems from collapse over the next decade.
The EU has already committed to planting three billion trees before 2030 with its Nature Rehabilitation Plan 2030. Reforest Nicosia is part of that effort.
Reforest Volunteers
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