Enviro Centre marks World Wetlands Day 

The Akrotiri Environmental and Education Centre marked World Wetlands Day by offering experiential workshops with its team of experts, it announced on Tuesday.

One of the centre’s aims is to maximise awareness of the wetlands and the urgency of its restoration.

Wetlands Day – marked around the world on February 2 – provides an opportunity to achieve those goals and to get the community involved.

“World Wetlands Day is a big event worldwide and we always look forward to welcoming people at the centre. Our wetlands offer much and we are always happy to see people coming to learn more about what we have here,” manager of the centre Thomas Hadjikyriakou said.

“Akrotiri Peninsula is one of the biodiversity hotspots on the island and the Western Mediterranean basin. It hosts about 30 natural habitat types and over 800 different plant species. Many of them are endemic and about 30 of them are endangered with extinction,” he added.

“A total of 364 bird species have been recorded on the peninsula, as well as hundreds of insect species, including a large number of endemic ones.”

On February 2 the centre hosted two local schools for an educational programme specifically on the Akrotiri wetlands.

“Among the many educational programmes that the centre offers, are organised tours for students from both the Bases and the RoC, in which students have the opportunity to participate in fieldwork activities. The work being carried out by staff at the centre is remarkable,” Hadjikyriakou said.

AEEC is part of a wider network of environmental education centres island wide with over 10,000 visitors per year.