SINGLE COUNTRY PROFILE

Tuesday, 18 August 2020
The first NSDS of Cyprus was approved by the Council of Ministers in November 2007 (full document only available in Greek, summary in English). The NSDS includes the main topics and subject areas of the renewed EU SDS.
Cyprus has reviewed its National Sustainable Development Strategy (NSDS) that has been prepared within the EU Sustainable Development Strategy framework. The revision process was scheduled to be completed by the end of 2009, however, due to some input delays from a number of departments and organizations, the reviewed NSDS was finally approved by the Council of Ministers in October 2010. The reviewed NSDS introduces more sustainable development indicators, that contribute to measuring the on-going progress.
Covers all three dimensions of SD.
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Cyprus Voluntary National Review 2017.
Cyprus submitted its second Voluntary National Review in 2021.
In the preparation of the NSDS, the municipalities (the only sub-national level in Cyprus) were involved in the general consultation process that also included several other stakeholder groups (i.e. organised societal bodies). On the one hand, public inquiry meetings were organised in which the municipalities participated. On the other hand, stakeholders could submit written comments to the draft strategy which, were, when possible, incorporated in the final NSDS.
The only coordination between the national and sub-national level is undertaken for the National Action Plan on Green Public Procurement: Based on the national plan, the municipalities have to develop their own local action plans.
LA 21 initiatives exist on the municipal level. However, there is no link to the NSDS.
EU linkages
The renewed EU Strategy for Sustainable Development (EU SDS) that was adopted in June 2006 foresees that Member States bi-annually report about how they address the priorities of the EU SDS. Cyprus has published its first national report on implementing the EU SDS in Summer 2007.
Horizontal coordination is undertaken by the Inter-Governmental Committee, which is chaired by the Ministry for Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment (Environment Services). Other institutions involved are the Ministry of Interior, the Planning Bureau as well as the Departments of Town Planning and Housing, Water Development and Geological Survey (departments are implementation and advisory bodies for ministries).
The NSDS does not include monitoring and/or review mechanisms.
The Inter-Governmental Committee prepared an Internal review, in the form of a Bi-annual report. The process of the last review started in July 2009. The 2010 NSDS Review was submitted to the Council of Ministers for approval in September 2010, and was approved in October 2010.
Until the submission of the 2009 Review to the Council of Ministers, written comments, as well as oral ones especially during the public hearing, were taken into consideration in the final draft.
Cyprus takes part in the Mediterranean Commission for SD (MCSD) that provided a list of 130 indicators for SD in the Mediterranean region. The indicators relate to economic, social and environmental issues that are specific to this region.
Cyprus reviewed the existing set of indicators. Efforts were made in order to minimize their total number, as well as to include some compound SD Indicators. The Governmental Departments, taking part in the Inter-Governmental Committee, are responsible for the monitoring process.
In the preparation of the NSDS, several stakeholders were involved in the general consultation process. Besides public inquiry meetings, stakeholders could submit written comments to the draft strategy, which were, when possible, incorporated in the final NSDS. During the Review of the NSDS , more stakeholders were added in the mechanism. The NSDS was improved with the public participation.
The Council for the Environment is an important institution for all issues that concern environmental policy and management. It has a wide representation and advises the National Government on environmental and SD issues. Environmental NGO’s are encouraged to get involved in the environmental and SD policy formulation process; some are already members of the Council for the Environment.
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