Gold Magazine December 2013 - January 2014, Issue 33 | Page 67

W

e’ve all been so
shocked and busy
lamenting the loss of
our bank deposits that
it has gone almost unnoticed that these weren’t our only capital
assets.
Dr. Vassos Karageorghis, the grand old
man of Cypriot archaeology who is still
active in his 84th year, was the first to point
out in a lecture given within weeks of that
fateful weekend in March 2013, that Cyprus is the repository of a cultural capital
acquired over 9,000 years. No one can take
that away from us.
Apart from our cultural assets, Cyprus
also possesses a natural capital of even
longer pedigree. Formed millions of years
ago by the movement of the tectonic plates
as Europe, Asia and Africa drew apart, the
island has geological formations, fauna and
flora (collectively known as biodiversity)
that belong to all three continents, but are
not usually found together. When Cyprus joined the EU, we brought with us a
natural wealth which includes at least 150
known endemic species – plants, mammals,
insects and birds found only in Cyprus and
nowhere else on the planet.
“So what?” a businessman might say.
Well, in the new era of corporate social
responsibility, someone who thinks only of
the bottom line, rather than collateral benefits, is distinctly ‘uncool’. But even for that
cynical executive, the opportunities offered
by Cypriot biodiversity can translate directly into cash: a very good reason, therefore,
to preserve the wealth of Cypriot nature.
Biodiversity includes all living things on
the planet, e.g. man, animals, birds and
bees, fish and plants, as well as the surroundings in which they exist: their habitat.
We may think of ‘natural surroundings’ but
we should remember that many birds and
small animals choose to nest or live under
eaves or in dry-stone walls. So, in a general
sense, our surroundings (geology and land
cover including human constructions) form
our landscapes and each landscape supports
different forms of life. It is up to us to sustain them.
Apologies for the above short detour into
ecology: it is a necessary prerequisite to
understanding the business opportunities
offered by our natural capital. No prizes
for guessing that tourism is a prime beneficiary of natural heritage. The ‘new age’

tourist often chooses his/her holiday via an
Internet search, piecing together the desired
elements: travel, accommodation, things
to do or to avoid. This person is likely to
consult a travel website to read what other
visitors have said about a destination and
this is where Cyprus shoots itself in the
foot. The Internet provides abundant references to the Cypriots’ cruelty to animals,
irresponsible shooting and illegal bird trapping. Prospective travellers are urged to
boycott Cyprus until it improves its record.
Such negative publicity masks the good
bits, e.g. that Cyprus has unique geological
formations, or that the Akrotiri Wetland
is among the most important in the East
Mediterranean, with over 300 species of
visiting birds.
Now Europe’s and the IMF’s powerful men and women have decreed that we
should forget about being a banking and
financial services centre and concentrate on
tourism instead. So we had better pay attention to our tourism product.
Everyone realises that the era of sun, sea
and sand (and sex) is over but which way
do we go now? Many options apart from
agro-tourism are open to entrepreneurs
with imagination. Unfortunately, young
Cypriots’ imaginations seem too often
limited to the opening of bars and cafes,
yet there is a vast range of special-interest
tourism to develop. From geological hikes
to star-gazing, there are numerous activities
which can be offered from existing hotels:
we don’t need to keep building more agrotourism villas. If the comparatively small island of San Miguel in the Azores can operate a well-frequented observatory for gazing
at the Perseids, why can’t we? Our night
skies are just as clear of photo-pollution
and our constellations just as interesting.
And for those who are not attracted
by ‘special interests’, what about ‘special
products’? Not just local wines, which we
do well, but where are the acres of Cypriot
lavender or rosemary, which we could be
growing? Why haven’t we developed cosmetics from grape seed and other by-products of wine-making? Chios, a one-product
island growing mastic (the substance from
which natural chewing gum is derived),
now markets a series of attractively-packaged products based on