EGU - General Assembly 2018

Implementation of Marine Spatial Planning in Cyprus

Diofantos Hadjimitsis, Christodoulos Mettas, Athos Agapiou, Kyriacos Themistocleous, Evagoras Evagorou, Christiana Papoutsa, Argyro Nisantzi, Rodanthi
Mamouri, Vasiliki Lysandrou, Marios Tzouvaras, Andreas Christofe, Georgia Kouta, Maria Prodromou, Milto Miltiadou, Thomaida Polydorou, Giorgos
Melillos, Silas Michaelides, and Kyriacos Neocleous

ERATOSTHENES Research Centre, School of Engineering and Technology, Department of Civil Engineering and Geomatics, Cyprus University of
Technology, Limassol, Cyprus

ABSTRACT

According to the European Commission, coastal and ocean activities should take place in an efficient, safe and sustainable way. Marine Spatial
Planning (MSP) aims to bring together various users and map the marine and coastal resources in a sustainable way. The first step towards an
integrated MSP in Cyprus was performed through the cross-border Cooperation Programme “Greece–Cyprus 2007–2013” with acronym
“THAL-CHOR” ( that has been implemented between the years 2012-2014. An analysis of the coastal and ocean activities and their conflicts
but also the existing legal framework related to the MSP in Cyprus was completed through “THAL-CHOR”.

OBJECTIVES METHODOLOGY
“THAL-CHOR’’ listed all sea and
The main objective of the project is to produce the final MSP plans that will be applied by Cyprus, as land activities of the Exclusive
far as MSP is concerned, by following best practices from other EU countries, updating the work Economic Zone (EEZ) of Cyprus
performed in “THAL-CHOR” and updating the directives concerning MSP in Cyprus. This work ending up in different scenarios using
highlights also how multidisciplinary backgrounds are integrated with geospatial tools to implement the methodology shown below:
and monitor MSP activities in the coastal and marine environments. The importance of using
geospatial tools such as GIS and Earth Observation in monitoring environmental aspects (e.g.
hazards) related to MSP is highlighted with main emphasis on Cyprus and the east Mediterranean Data collection for EEZ activities
region.

Implementation of a legal framework

Identification of the Conflicts’ between the

different sea and land activities

Analysis of data and exportation of maps

Figure 1: Conflicts’ table between the different sea and land activities Figure 2: Sea and land activities
Energy

Best
Scenario

Environme
Tourism
nt

Proposed MSP in Cyprus

Figure 3: General conflicts’ map between sea activities Figure 4: Density map of conflicts

HYPOTHETICAL SCENARIO
Based on the overall results from the selected case study area, different hypothetical
scenarios by experts and stakeholders to identify the most suitable solution scenario for the
future. The best-case scenario is designed to optimize the environment, tourism and energy.

REFERENCES

• Hadjimitsis D.G., Agapiou A., Themistocleous K., Mettas C., Evagorou E., Soulis G.,
Xagoraris Z., Pillikou M., Alliouris K., And Ioannou N., Marine Spatial Planning in
Cyprus, Open GeoScience, 2016
• Hadjimitsis D.G , Agapiou A., Themistocleous K., Mettas C., Evagorou E., Soulis G.,
Figure 5: Hypothetical scenario for energy axe
Xagoraris Z., Pilikou M., Aliouris K. And Ioannou N. Maritime Spatial Planning in
Cyprus, RSCy 2015