Cyprus-Forum.com

[bill cobbett]

Part of the problem is the almost fanatic embracing of steel reinforced concrete as a primary construction material. Concrete needs inert mixes, ie bits of mountain.

With so many graduate engineers you would think Cyprus would develop a less environmentally demanding way to build, ie steel framed buildings, which are also more amenable to recycling. But, no, we are stuck on concrete, we know everything, we are the champions!

Strangely, I was thinking of the relative merits of reinforced concrete versus steel framed building only yesterday and did a little googling.

I came to two conclusions. Cost was one, more expensive to build with steel, and the other was earthquake resistance ... RC has a flexibility that's lacking with steel frames, where great stress is created at the traditional bolted joints and which seems can only be overcome in modern building techniques with very specialist and expensive welding and with the construction of a second (and outside earthquake situations) redundant internal frame or core. Can be done but v expensive.

[RAFAELLA]

WORKS ON PROTECTION OF POTENTIAL NATURA 2000 SITES IN THE TRNC CONTINUE

A consultation meeting for the Kyrenia(Girne)Mountains range was held in Kyrenia.

It was organized within the framework of the EU-funded project of “Technical Assistance for management and protection of potential NATURA 2000 sites” in the Northern Cyprus.

In a speech, the Project Co-ordinator Mustafa Sehitcan said that the meeting was aimed at giving a start to the consultation process for the management plans for the protection of the Girne(Kyrenia) Mountains.

Also speaking at the event, the Head of the EU Programme Support Office Alessandra Viezzer underlined the need for the protection of 50 types of plants and 16 types of animals peculiar to Cyprus and added that many other natural components and resources were in need of protection and conservation.

She said Girne Mountains were in serious danger.

The Director of the Department of Environmental Protection Hulya Altan, for her part, said the Project was providing the opportunity to determine the potential areas of NATURA 2000 in Cyprus and prepare management plans for their protection

The whole occupied area is in danger, not only the Kyrenia mountains

[zan]

WORKS ON PROTECTION OF POTENTIAL NATURA 2000 SITES IN THE TRNC CONTINUE

A consultation meeting for the Kyrenia(Girne)Mountains range was held in Kyrenia.

It was organized within the framework of the EU-funded project of “Technical Assistance for management and protection of potential NATURA 2000 sites” in the Northern Cyprus.

In a speech, the Project Co-ordinator Mustafa Sehitcan said that the meeting was aimed at giving a start to the consultation process for the management plans for the protection of the Girne(Kyrenia) Mountains.

Also speaking at the event, the Head of the EU Programme Support Office Alessandra Viezzer underlined the need for the protection of 50 types of plants and 16 types of animals peculiar to Cyprus and added that many other natural components and resources were in need of protection and conservation.

She said Girne Mountains were in serious danger.

The Director of the Department of Environmental Protection Hulya Altan, for her part, said the Project was providing the opportunity to determine the potential areas of NATURA 2000 in Cyprus and prepare management plans for their protection

The whole occupied area is in danger, not only the Kyrenia mountains

Has the South done a risk assessment on you

[Tim Drayton]

Not that countryside stewardship is any better in the south, around the big cities and resort areas. As long as Cypriots see land development as the chief means to wealth these problems will be endemic. We are all determined to turn our coast line into a dump.

I feel a bit like a hypocrite having bought into a greenfield development on the fringes of the city myself, but there is a desperate need for a green belt to be imposed around the de facto Limassol urban area - which has now encroached on more than a dozen municipalities - before it turns into a huge monstrosity. The downturn has thankfully prevented any further encroachment into the countryside over the past two-three years, but any future overdevelopment will eventually destroy what is still a very pleasant place to live in.