The Nicosia Municipality, following a proposal submitted by the Municipality of Aglantzia, participates in the project “Edu4Climate” which was approved for funding by the European Commission’s Horizon Europe Coordination & Support Action (CSA) “European Excellence Initiative” (EEI). The consortium is led by the Cyprus Institute and involves educational institutions and local authorities from Crete, Versailles and Vienna as well as private companies.
Edu4Climate aims to strengthen higher education networks in Cyprus and Greece and strengthen their cooperation with European institutions and national and European research and innovation ecosystems, to address climate change and air pollution in the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East (EMEA) region. The SEMC region, which includes Cyprus and Greece geographically, has been identified as the region most vulnerable to the climate crisis. Therefore, regional climate action in the LDCs is of strategic importance for the success of European and global climate efforts to achieve the objectives of the Paris Agreement.
As part of the project, and in cooperation with the Cyprus Institute’s Centre of Excellence “CARE-C”, an electronic signboard has been installed at a central point on Kyrenia Street, which displays real-time information to citizens about air quality in the region, with the aim of informing and educating citizens about air pollution and climate change.
The data comes directly from the Cyprus Atmospheric Observatory (CAO) station, located at the Cyprus Institute’s premises in Nicosia, and includes percentages of the most common air pollutants in the atmosphere, such as nitrogen oxides (Nox), ozone (O3), fine and coarse particles (PM2.5 and PM10) and the overall air quality index. The website Air Quality Index in Agglomeration – Edu4ClimAte explains the different measurements and colour coding used on the plate.
In the framework of the project, 4 sensors (small environmental stations) have also been recently installed in various municipal buildings in the area of Aglantzia, namely in the building of the former Town Hall, the Senior Citizens’ Home, the Community Kindergarten and the Swimming Pool, which also measure environmental pollutants (temperature, humidity, PM10 etc.) and will reinforce the existing infrastructure of environmental stations operating under the Smart City Nicosia project https://smartnicosia.eu/el/air-quality.
More information on the purpose and activities of the project can be found on the website created for the project https://edu4climate.cyi.ac.cy/.
Source: Nicosia Municipality | Announcements 2024 (https://shorturl.at/9cwir)