The Open University of Cyprus (OUC) is coordinating a research project on environmentally friendly farming.

As agricultural practices are responsible for 17-20 per cent of global greenhouse gas emission and are the main driver for biodiversity and habitat degradation, farmers are a group of paramount importance in the effort to meet the targets for the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 and EU climate targets for 2050.

The TAKE OFF project, ‘Translating new Approaches and Knowledge into Environmentally Friendly Farming’, coordinated by OUC is intended to promote environmentally friendly farming in line with major EU policies and initiatives and has secured funding under the KA210-VET-small-scale partnerships in vocational education and training action of the Erasmus+ Programme.

The OUC’s Terrestrial Ecosystems Management Lab (TeamLab) led by Professor Ioannis Vogiatzakis in collaboration with the University of Milan Bicocca and a new Cypriot start-up called Sustainability Metrics aim to produce an e-learning course for Environmentally Friendly Farming (EFF), build an online tool for promoting EFF practices, produce a replicability e-package for education and training activities related to EFF and interact with the target groups and increase outputs uptake by implementing multiplier events in Cyprus and Italy.

In addition, TAKE OFF is tailored to the Erasmus+ Horizontal Priorities for the environment and fight against climate change and stimulating innovative learning and teaching practices.