A cry of anguish from Kythnos. Cypriot citizens who see a «threat» in the intention to place wind turbines on their island to create a wind farm.
«How is it possible», they wonder, in a place that is protected by law as «traditional» and «preserved» and which extends over an area of only 99 square kilometres, to place about twenty wind turbines. And they are taking action against the promotion of this plan.
The Dryopides Assembly
Recently the General Assembly of the Kythnos Dryopides of Kythnos met and was attended by friends of the island. They discussed and decided that what is being promoted by the Ministry of Environment is not in the interest of their place. Then and before taking a series of actions they have in mind, they made public their conclusions, their fears and their objections.
Similar assemblies are being prepared and will be held by other associations on the island.
Public consultation
A little earlier, the environmental impact study of the wind turbine installation in Kythnos was under public consultation. Competent bodies, the municipality of Kythnos and, of course, the public were invited to express their views. On the part of the municipality of Kythnos, opinions were submitted opposing the installation of wind turbines, and citizens who are opposed to the whole installation also participated.
Struggle Committee
It is worth noting that a Committee of Struggle against the installation of the anomegenerators has already been set up and is examining all possible ways of action against the green energy project, including recourse to the Council of State.
Also among the objectives of the Committee is the organization of local society and the organization of meetings in order to express the refusal of the residents to the attempted green energy investment.
The following is the text in which the Druopidean General Assembly summarised its views:
«WHY WE SAY «NO» TO WIND TURBINES IN KYTHNOS»
Recently, all Kythnians or Thermians as we like to call ourselves, were informed about an installation of... twenty (20) wind turbines in Kythnos, nine (9) in the NORTHEAST part and eleven (11) in the SOUTH part of our island!
This is the so-called: «Wind Power Plant with a total installed capacity of 69 MW and accompanying infrastructure projects» with which, suddenly, the small, only 99 sq. km, With its three wonderful traditional settlements: of Chora, Dryopida and Loutra, with the special, ornate relief of its mountains and with the large number (92) of beaches, with the biotopes (Thermian partridge / beehives etc.a.), with wildlife sanctuaries and with rare and unique plants and wild flowers, is being persecuted for being transformed into a large, open-air «industrial power plant»...
Kythnos is located a short distance from Attica, but for many years now, it has been marginalized by ferry services. However, despite all the known difficulties, the people of Thermiotes have guarded their own ’Thermopylae«... they have endured and survived and more. With hard work and dedication, with love and passion, they have made Kythnos a sought-after tourist destination with its own local and natural characteristics that have been preserved and maintained as they were handed down from previous generations!
And now the question: why should we fill this beautiful place with gigantic ANEMOGENTERIES; which, as it seems, are planned to be placed, even on private land, without any consent, in scattered «accidental or unfortunate» places... In a place, already designated by Presidential Decree as a «place of special beauty», with strict restrictions on building, and where in every inch of land / literally / you find an uninterrupted set of continuous, well-preserved, artistic «dry stone», fully integrated with the Place, for centuries now!
INDICATIVE:
1st - A PLACE OF UNIQUE GOOD
With the 17.9.2002 Decree (Government Gazette 931/24.10.2002) Kythnos was already characterized as a place of special beauty and special conditions and building restrictions were established in the settlements and in the areas outside the plan.
Among other provisions, in Article 8:
2. a) No works shall be allowed to convert the traditional roads connecting the island's areas (cobbled streets) into service roads for wheeled vehicles.
b) The preservation and restoration of the paved roads, squares and steps...
3. The conversion of streams into vehicular service roads or sidewalks is not permitted...
7.α) The demolition, destruction or alteration of any kind of traditional buildings of the settlements, as well as those found in the countryside in the form of complexes of specialized agricultural use or individual buildings, is prohibited,
1O.a) No building shall be permitted on portions and/or the total area of land with a slope, according to the 1:5,000 scale GIS map, greater than 35%, except for stone buildings up to 15.00 sq. ft. and up to 3.00 m. in height from the surrounding natural or landscaped ground...
11. The installation of prefabricated or prefabricated houses or wheelhouses and the creation of department stores and hypermarkets is not allowed...
14. The placement of any kind of illuminated signs and advertisements is not allowed, except after approval by the competent services of the Ministry of the Aegean and in accordance with the existing provisions for small signs and advertisements...
15. Every infrastructure project carried out by a Public Utility (PPC, OTE, EVDAP), Local Government etc. and generally every work concerning the configuration, modification or redevelopment of public spaces shall be adapted to local standards and shall be carried out after the approval of the relevant study by the competent Department of the Ministry of the Aegean. Public utilities shall undertake, at their own expense, to reform and improve their facilities so as not to damage the environment...
2nd - Wooden sticks
Kythnos is «built» from end to end! (as was mentioned by the architect Dimitris N. Gonidakis in the presentation of his thesis on Kythnos) and in its landscape, no kind of extended intervention is allowed - ’from end to end« - that would alter the existing elaborate, unique landscape!
The above characterization «structured from end to end’ refers, of course, to the dry stone walls of the island, as presented by the Ephorate of Antiquities of Cyclades, which compose and define our place as a whole.
The dry stones, as the word says, are... one stone on top of another, without any binding material, standing there unchanged, probably for centuries! Especially on our island, it is said that there are even medieval dry stones...
Besides, «the stone» abounds in our land and with them, apart from the chapels and houses, on the one hand, the properties and roads are delimited, on the other hand, the soil is retained in the fields that are in this way, became fertile and arable, because the slopes were ’built ladder by ladder’, which in this particular use is called «ochta», while scattered throughout the island are also the stone-built cells or calybaras (farmhouses), the pens, the threshing floors, the windmills, the wells, the ovens and any other useful building.
This art of Xerolithia has been inscribed since 2015 in the National Inventory of Courtyard Cultural Heritage and since 2018 in the List of Courtyard Cultural Heritage of Humanity (UNESCO, 2003)
The architect Dimitris N. Gonidakis, regarding the landscape of Kythnos, describes: «[...] Walking along the ridge of the island, everything is visible, the coastline, the hills, the gullies, the dry bushes, the weeds, the reptiles and insects, the domestic animals, the birds and the clouds that give mobility to the sky. You can still see the sandy beaches, the rocks, the pebbles, the stones, the soil. Somewhere in there you begin to pick out and discern the «presence» of man, asphalt roads, dry stone walls that either produce islands of land or define the hiking/semi-hiking trails, small pentagonal rectangular blocks [dwellings] and circles on the ground [threshing floors]. Moreover, one cannot fail to notice the island's stepped topography, with terraces [banks], white chapels, windmills and somewhere a concentration of many houses forming a village and further in the distance another [...] and all this», he continues, «because [...] On the island everything is structured and domesticated... Almost everything, except for the rocks and perhaps the sandy beaches, is structured and shaped by man, creating a special environment [...]» Dimitris N. Gonidakis I pages 9 and 47 ~ The body of the place E.M.P. September 2015 / Supervisor.
These and more are the beautiful «natural environment» of our place, which are elements of our cultural heritage, around which our whole «Life» on the island is developed! The permanent residents with their activities in the primary sector and tourism and the visitors - tourists who enjoy all this and all together, we write down the history and promote our culture.
FOR THESE REASONS AND NOT ONLY, WE SAY «NO» TO THE PROPOSED UNEMPLOYERS AND THEIR ASSOCIATED WORKS!
We believe that their installation will destroy / devalue the wonderful «built landscape» of our small island and will degrade our environment, with their large size and height, with lights that will be visible from most of the island, with factory noises, with the necessary «major works» of excavation, land and road sealing, with a lifting substation at «St. Luke's» and extensive wiring, etc.α., which will definitely alter the present «existing», untouched environment of our country, which has been untouched for hundreds of years.
We are surely, in our view, heading for decline, gradual abandonment and socio-economic disaster!
