The seminar was a parallel event of the Flood Tide of Resistance project, and promoted Cyprus based initiatives that focus on the preservation of Cypriot natural ecosystems, local sustainability issues as well as the revitalisation of local environments and economies.
In the face of the growing biodiversity and climate crisis, Martin Hellicar will talk about the environmental solutions BirdLife Cyprus is actively proposing for implementation. BirdLife Cyprus is a conservation organisation with a broad remit in tackling threats to nature across Cyprus. Martin presented the NGO’s work, its philosophy, and approach, and concentrated on marine issues such as the serious and relatively unacknowledged threat of fisheries by-catch caused by trawl fishing nets.
Martin A. Hellicar is the director of respected bird conservation NGO BirdLife Cyprus , the local partner organisation of BirdLife International. Experience in team and project management, report writing, communications and lobbying in Nicosia & Brussels. He has sound academic background in ecology at BSc (Lancaster Uni.), MRes (York Uni.) and PhD (Uni. of Cyprus), coupled with experience in relevant field work.
A few days before the seminar the work of BirdLife Cyprus was featured in UK’s The Guardian newspaper.
Who decides what happens to the sea and the coastline? How do we engage with institutional processes which are inherently unequal? How do we link these processes with our claims and how do we bring in the question of the commons? What’s art have to do with it? This presentation aims to ponder on these questions, using the local context to highlight that the struggle around the appropriation of the marine and coastal commons is ongoing.
Maria Hadjimichael is a scholar – activist and a Senior Associate Scientist at the Cyprus Marine and Maritime Institute. She conducts research in the fields of political ecology (including urban), environmental politics and governance of the Commons. The sea and the coastline is the main focus of her research.
