The Network for Sustainable Cyclades

Ελληνικά – Français
By Dr Tonia Pantéléou [1]
Paros, 18/11/2023

When things reach the breaking point, some resistance begins to emerge.

All now feel the threat of serious alteration of the physiognomy of the Cycladic islands. Paros, already having the urbanization of Mykonos and Santorini behind it, is already facing the danger of being the next Cycladic island to transform its once again peaceful and authentic landscape into a semblance of a seaside urban suburb, while the expected completion of the airport expansion will probably intensify the interest for further construction on the island. In 2023 the rate of building permit issuance is approaching a staggering 1,200 permits per year.

Immediately after Paros, Naxos and Tinos follow the same course, while in the rest of the Cycladic islands – although somewhat more sheltered for the moment due to various factors such as the more difficult access from the major urban centres of Greece and Europe – the symptoms of the same final direction are not insignificant. It is a matter of time. The overloading of each island is pushing many visitors and/or investors to turn to the others. The outlook for the whole of the Cycladic islands is uniform. The maritime borders that have maintained each island’s relative isolation and autonomy for millennia, imposing or allowing significant variations in each island’s historical and socio-economic development, are now proving too weak in the face of the turbines of high-speed boats and aeroplanes.

Why not become Mykonos?

Of course, for some – not a few – these developments and this prospect for our islands is a promising one. Of course, we can ‘become Mykonos’, and hopefully an Athenian suburb, and why not New York or Dubai. Property values there are extremely high, jobs are there, money flows, services of all kinds (including health and education) are plentiful. Why not?

In places where only a few decades ago poverty and the general problems of the modern Greek countryside were rampant, it is not surprising that the developments of the last few decades seem like an impossible dream. Thus, we have two massive dreams that intersect and feed off each other: On the one hand, the dream of many ancient locals for abundance and comfort, and on the other hand, the dream of millions of inhabitants of this planet who, tired of the urbanised lifestyle and its consequences, are looking to our islands for the lost peace, simplicity and authenticity. What is wrong with mass dreams coming true?

Danger of turning the dream into a nightmare

The Network for Sustainability in the Cyclades, which is currently being organized, aims to answer this strange question, in order to synthesize and strengthen the expression of concern and discontent for the course of the islands and to claim with structured proposals and action at all levels a substantial change of direction in the development course of the Cyclades. The Network for Sustainability wants to coordinate and promote the dynamics of a number of movements that have already been recorded recently in our islands, reflecting precisely the vigilance of many in the face of the risk of the dream turning into a nightmare: for visitors, but also, and above all, for the inhabitants of the islands, ancient or new.

Establishment of the Network

The network was founded on 28 October 2023 at the Sifnos Town Hall, where residents from various islands and Athens, aware of their shared concern for the future of the islands, decided to work collectively towards its creation.

The Sifnos meeting did not have this objective. From 24th to 26th, the Wind of Renewal and SMILO, the international organisation for the protection of small islands, organised a workshop on dry stone. At the same time, groups from Sifnos [2] organised the “Landscape Workshop” on 27 October. As a result of these two related events, academics and representatives of organisations from other islands [3] and national organisations visited Sifnos, where they once again expressed their concern about the destructive nature of development in the Cyclades and their desire to work towards reversing this trend. The discussion begun at the workshop was finally extended by another two-hour meeting on 28 October at the Sifnos Town Hall, during which the creation of the Network for Sustainable Cyclades was proposed and accepted by those present.

The Network aims to unite in a common dynamic the efforts to highlight by all means and ways the countless aspects of the problems that are already evident in the area and to act as effectively as possible in the direction of resistance and the reversal of their cause, which is precisely the kind of ‘development’ that is currently sweeping with its sizzling wind the unique and sensitive Cycladic landscape and the life within it. And to propose and encourage another way forward, which is not that of a return to poverty and abandonment, but soft, sustainable development, preserving the valuable Cycladic characteristics for the well-being and cohesion of island societies.

A recent generalised concern about the course of the islands.

The creation of the Network is not an event that came from above or suddenly. It is the maturation and synthesis of many initiatives that have been manifested over the last year in our islands, expressing the need for resistance in various ways. Mentioning some of them, we recall:

So, in the space of a single six-month period, we have a series of events which, despite the different starting points and objectives of each of them, clearly indicate the now widespread concern about the development of the islands.

Initiatives of this kind are certainly not unprecedented in the Cyclades. There have been others, and there are still others, important and earlier. There has never been a shortage of sensitive pioneers on the various islands, who have certainly helped to maintain a spirit of defence of the precious Cycladic area. But the frequency of relevant movements, be they social, academic, political or communicative, recorded in 2023, certainly marks a political strengthening on the side of resistance to what is happening in our islands. Probably because the unpleasant effects are now so intense that they are being felt not just by the sensitive pioneers, but on a much more massive scale, both inside and outside Greece.

For a change of course on the islands

The Network for Sustainable Cyclades, whose founding declaration is already circulating on the site [6] and which affirms the Network’s intention to act in the direction of a change of course for the islands, is the result of the political consolidation of this climate of resistance and the catalyst for its future organisation and expansion. Because it brings together all the conditions necessary to effectively synthesise the initiatives of local groups – who should act as the central political subject of the effort – with the necessary additional know-how and documentation that can be contributed by disinterestedly organised bodies and individuals who, although they do not live or operate exclusively in the Cyclades, have already declared their concern for them and their willingness to contribute to the effort to reverse the current destructive course.

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[1] Tonia Panteliou is an economist and educator, and secretary of the Archilochos cultural association in Paros.

[2] The workshop on the landscape of Sifnos and sustainability was organised by: the FLEA group, the Environmental and Architectural Committees of the Municipality of Sifnos, the Committee for the Sustainable Management of Natural Resources of Sifnos and the Social Cooperative Wind of Renewal and the European project NTUA – CARDIMED.

[3] In addition to a number of citizens from Sifnos and other islands, there were representatives of the municipality of Sifnos, the new Ambassada of Tinos, members of important associations from Paros (Nicolas Stephanou, vice-president of the FoPA and Tonia Panteleou, secretary of the Archilochos cultural association), ELLET President Karas, as well as ELLET partners, Nikos Chrysogelos of Wind of Renew, teachers and leading academics such as Cycladic regionalist Yannis Spilanis and Alexandra Katsiri, who took part in the conference.

[4] The two-day conference entitled “Strategies for Sustainability” comprised four sessions: Sustainable Tourism, Primary and Secondary Sectors, Spatial Planning/Construction and Infrastructure for the Climate Crisis.

[5] The “Sustainable Cyclades” journalism initiative is a journalism project of the “Journalism Initiative” , supported by inside story, which focuses on the critical issues facing the southern Aegean island group, which is under pressure from excessive tourism.

[6] with the Friends of Paros & Antiparos as founding members