In the face of strong opposition to what has been described as “one of the biggest scandals seen in Cyprus”, the government is adamant that the rapid expansion from 3 to 17 golf courses will not jeopardise the island’s water and energy supplies because each golf course will have its own water desalination plant powered by renewable energy sources.
UK Golf course / Photo by Stephen Robertson
Water is already scarce in Cyprus
The government froze plans for the 14 new golf courses last summer, when rainfall on Cyprus dropped to just a fifth of average levels, forcing the island to rely on tankers carrying water from Greece. Water to households is still being rationed, with the mains supply running for only three half-days a week. According to Costas Papastavros, an agriculture and natural resources ministry official who has openly slammed the project, the golf courses will suck up approximately 30 million cubic metres (cmc) of water annually, compared to the population’s drinking water needs of 85cmc.
Opponents to the developments also anticipate that each golf course will be surrounded by luxurious villas and other tourist facilities in order for the developers to recoup construction costs quickly, placing a further strain on the country’s water supply.
Despite much local resistance, however, the government has now allowed the projects to go ahead in a bid to stave off the negative impacts of the global financial crisis. It hopes that the additional golf courses will attract visitors from new tourism markets and extend the tourism season beyond the traditional summer period.
Desalination too energy hungry to be green
Cyprus’s Water Development Department (WDD) has observed that “the prolonged drought of the last decade of the 20th century had drastically reduced the water reserves of the surface and underground reservoirs”. In an attempt to reduce the country’s dependency on rainfall, Cyprus opened its first desalination plant in 1997 and now has two in operation.
In light of such considerable water shortages, the government has required that each new golf course has its own desalination plant, which should be powered by renewable energy sources in order to ensure that the water and energy and balance on the island is not adversely affected. Residents and environmentalists have, however, raised concerns about noise and air pollution from the plants, as well as the demands they will place on electricity. Environmentalists are not convinced that such an expansion will not require fuel-fired energy generation. The Federation of Environment and Ecological Organisations in Cyprus has pointed out that renewable energy technologies are not yet advanced enough to keep up with such growth in demand.
What is happening in Cyprus reflects a similar situation in countries all over the world where, in order to meet growing water demands, governments are building energy-intensive desalination plants. However, it is the local people who bear the costs, both through higher service charges and connection fees, and through damage to the coastal environment that the building of such plants entails.
Water as human right
The United Nations asserted water as human right in 2002, clarifying the obligation for governments to extend access to sufficient, affordable, accessible and safe water supplies as their resources allow. The need for action is further emphasised by the UN designation of 2005 – 2015 as the Water for Life decade.
However, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), around 880 million people do not have access to a decent source of drinking water and 2.5 billion people do not have access to proper sanitation. With water supplies under growing strain due to intensive use and climate change, the number of people living under severe water stress is expected to rise to 3.9 billion by 2030. As water becomes increasingly scarce due to climate change and desertification, conflicts over water supply between tourism demands and other livelihood needs are set to intensify.
The right to water has also been recognised as crucial to achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals. Despite growing pressure from international experts and campaigning organisations, the World Water Forum, which gathers ministers across from the globe, has so far failed to recognise water as a fundamental human right, merely acknowledging it as a “basic need”. Improving water resource management is a key program area for the World Water Council and was discussed at the 2009 World Water Forum. However, apart from a brief mention about tourism placing unsustainable demands on water resources, no specific ‘action’ has been identified to address and remedy the negative impacts of tourism on local water use and availability.
The tourism industry as a whole has failed to adequately engage with the issue of its disproportionate water consumption on the lives and livelihoods of communities in destination countries. It is frequently the case that whilst tourists can enjoy several showers a day, swimming pools, golf courses and lush landscaped gardens, neighbouring communities face severe water shortages, often exacerbating already extreme conditions of hardship and poverty.
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As a company we are delighted to see that Cyprus is moving forward with renewable energy projects. For the last couple of years our company has pioneered the trend for a more eco-friendly environment, offering Cyprus renewable energy and desalination systems.