National Strategy for the Adaptation to Climate Change 2017.

The aim of the National Strategy for the Adaptation to Climate Change 2017 is to strengthen and/or improve the adaptability of Cyprus to early and effectively address the negative effects of climate change with the simultaneous exploitation of challenges and opportunities This has been achieved through specific objectives, such as: Identification of current climate change and its impacts; Prediction of future climate changes and assessment of their potential impacts; Evaluation of sensitivity, exposure and adaptive capacity of the various systems, sectors or social groups to climate change; Estimation of limits, barriers and opportunities associated with climate change; Selection of appropriate adaptation actions and measures through multi-criteria analysis and consultation with stakeholders.
The adaptation measures outlined below reflect the observed and projected impacts of climate change in Cyprus. For water resources the measures should enhance ecosystem storage capacity, protect surface and groundwater quality, promote good condition of soil, enhance water management and efficient water use, and implement appropriate water pricing to reflect scarcity and environmental costs. For biodiversity an inventory of all species has to be compiled and especially those species that are sensitive to climate change should be monitored. Alien species must be recorded in order to prevent their expansion to the extent possible. Sustainable use of ecosystem services and natural resources should be promoted for this purpose. Special attention must be given to improve forest resilience to fires by classifying forests according to the risk of fire and establishing early warning systems and water supply systems for firefighting. For agriculture, sustainable use of water resources with special attention to halt over exploitation of groundwater and to improve irrigation management should be implemented. Sound use of chemical pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers must be applied to protect soil and water resources from pollution and degradation. For the public health sector data must be collected and an inventory must be completed on water and food borne diseases, and disease control and prevention must be promoted. Health and social care systems must develop contingency plans to cope with potential disease outbreaks. The implementation of measures for air quality improvement in urban areas must be enhanced. Air and drinking water quality must be monitored and strict inspections in food production and service industry must be applied. For coastal zones, research on sea level rise must be promoted, in order to monitor vulnerable sites and simulate eventual future effects. An inventory of coastal areas prone to erosion risk must be prepared.
Τhe possibility to implement additional erosion protecting measures should be examined, like the protection of wetlands and sand dunes. For energy supply and demand, energy efficiency improvements are very important. Implementation of proper carbon pricing for all fuels and raising of public awareness play a key role for encouraging energy conservation. For the tourism sector, guidelines for adaptation to climate change must be developed. Tourism industry should make investments in infrastructures and technologies to upgrade facilities to face increased temperature and water shortage. Society must be informed and mobilised in order to get prepared for climate change adaptation measures. Funds should be foreseen to enable low-income households to afford capital expenditures for adaptation/mitigation measures, in order to avoid energy and climate poverty. The country‟s Social Security Services need to prepare a proper strategy and the insurance sector should consider developing new insurance products to cover climate change related risks.
The information presented has been initially collected through the project "Development of a national strategy for adaptation to climate change adverse impacts in Cyprus" or CYPADAPT and has been further enhanced with new research work published after the end of the project.