Revegetating the Cyclades

Through the initiatives Greening Schools and Regenerating the Cycladic Ecosystem, CPF has been supporting local planting and soil anti-erosion activities in the Cyclades to demonstrate the area’s rich biodiversity, with a particular focus on collaborating with local non-profit entities and the educational community.

Driven by the success of the botanical gardens created in Paros and Kimolos and the soil anti-erosion measures implemented at Paros Park, as well as the demand of the Cycladic schools for more hands-on environmental activities, CPF decided to expand biodiversity demonstration and revegetation to more locations in the Cyclades.

The “Revegetating the Cyclades” program aimed to scale up the two aforementioned initiatives and expand them to cover a pan-Cycladic scope.

It was co-funded by the Helidoni Foundation and the Cyclades Preservation Fund and ran from October 2021 until December 2022.

It span across 4 islands, involving public schools of all levels, education centers, cultural and environmental organizations, engaging parents, teachers, active citizens, local authorities, private enterprises, creating meaningful synergies among them.

It greened the school yard of the Foinikas Kindergarten in Syros, installed worm composting systems in 2 schools in Antiparos and Syros, and one more in the recently established Environment and Sustainability Education Center in Ermoupoli, Syros, one of the only two public education centers in the Cyclades.

It offered technical expertise for composting in a Vocational High School in Amorgos in collaboration with CPF’s partners on the island. Last but not least, it supported the revegetation of a remote area of the Environmental and Cultural Park of Paros while cleaning it from garbage washed ashore by the wind.

This CPF program has now been completed.