CYPRUS: Burping cows and a walk on the wild side

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Taking a walk in nature is a relaxing thing to do if stress levels become tinged with anxiety and the urban cluster becomes too much.


Cypriots like the idea of nature, as long as they can shoot it, eat it or kill it.

It’s only there to be enjoyed if allowed to roam around the countryside with a shotgun to down birds whose sole purpose in life is to be hunted for supper.

Then there is the hunting of the unlicensed kind with poachers out to snare songbirds with dastardly nets and lime sticks.

Cypriots trappers kill migratory birds on an industrial scale so they can catch ambelopoulia that fetch a tidy price on the black market.

Judging by the way animals are treated, such as cruelty to dogs how can we expect most Cypriots to respect nature and not to take it for granted by destroying it.

There’s not much of nature left on Cyprus.

There’s a little bit of forest that has yet to be burnt or cut down while natural habitats and wildlife are under threat from unsustainable construction and a lack of visionary town planning.

If we combine climate change, with the urban sprawl and a touch of wanton destruction; sustainability, biodiversity and wildlife are all under threat.

For many Cypriots, nature is only worth having if you can have a barbecue in it, wander around to pick mushrooms or snails, dump your rubbish on it and be able to drive through it once the fun is over.

It would be a long stretch of the imagination to say Cypriots are in harmony with nature or their surroundings – which usually means being stuck in traffic on the way back from the beach.

And the diminishing green spaces that we do have are at risk from extreme weather such as long periods of drought and the lack of a comprehensive plan to protect our flora and fauna.

Otherwise, there would be a more methodical approach to sustainability in our tourism and construction industry while a concerted effort is needed to promote recycling across the island and to harness sources of renewable energy.

Without planning properly for the future and protecting our environment, what we build today – especially those towers in the sky – could be gone tomorrow. At this rate it will be gone, we just don’t know how fast it will take.

I don’t want to sound like an eco-warrior, but we have to find other ways of reducing plastic in our lives, even change our diet in subtle ways like eating less meat – unless it’s souvla of course.

It would not happen here, but Britons were advised to eat less red meat — and more vegetables — if the UK is to meet its targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The UK’s climate change watchdog has calculated that “enteric fermentation” in sheep and cattle, which causes them to fart and burp, produces the equivalent of 23 million tons of CO2 a year.

This is so high that it would undermine any chance of the UK achieving its target of an 80% reduction in greenhouse gases by 2050.

Maybe we should also eat less halloumi because with China joining the market, Cyprus is going to need a lot of burping and farting cows and goats to meet expected demand.

For the moment there are more pressing needs with Larnaca Municipality calling for public cooperation to help protect the wetland at the salt lake which is home to hundreds of flamingos during the migratory season.

After a thorough investigation, the authorities have discovered that members of the public are encroaching on the habitat and harassing the birds – basically walking all over the salt lake to take selfies.

The salt lake is a protected area so you can’t just drive or walk all over it.

There is a nature trail you are supposed to stick to and a place to observe the birds, but visitors want to get close to the action. Especially at the weekends.

Larnaca has urged the humans not to spoil the wetland or disturb the flamingos and other birds there because they are trespassing on the home where they eat and rest.

This call to stay away from the lake will not be heeded – so why doesn’t the salt lake have wardens patrolling the area to protect it from locals and tourists who come in their droves.

There is a visible lack of signage warning people not to encroach on the lake or explaining that it is a protected nature reserve.

Urging visitors not to screw with the wildlife is not really going to cut it and if the authorities cared enough, they would do something more substantial than sound a lukewarm cry for help.

Unless of course, they are under the illusion that wildlife also takes the weekend off.