The Council of Ministers decided on a restructuring of the framework for managing environmental issues in Cyprus, agriculture minister Costas Kadis said following a meeting on Thursday.

More specifically, the cabinet has given the go-ahead for the creation of a new directorate to manage environmental issues within the agriculture ministry, the Environment Directorate, which will be responsible for handling issues at the centre of European policies and the Green Deal.

Kadis said that the directorate will be active in the sectors of climate change, the cyclical economy and waste management, biodiversity, environmental licensing, water and soil pollution control, geology, environmental control and monitoring.

“This decision is particularly important as it lays a solid foundation for a new, upgraded and rational framework for managing environmental issues in our country, based on the new challenges we face at a local, regional, pan-European and global level,” he said.

This way, Cyprus will be able to better respond to its obligations to the EU and the international conventions it has co-signed.