Cyprus

7 Municipalities had declared themselves gmo free zones since 2005: Nicosia, Ayios Athanasios, Engomi, Larnaca, Germasogeia, Strovolos and Latsia.  In addition, all Natura sites in Cyprus are gmo free areas.  Recently the Cyprus Communities Union has issued a declaration advising its members to declare their territories to GMO free areas, as the Cyprus Municipalities Union did in 2006.

On the 4th of December 2008 the Council of EU Environment Ministers took a very important decision in favor of small countries like Cyprus enabling them to be declared as a GMO free country. The Council indeed ‘’Points out that in accordance with Community Law, which includes the Precautionary Principle, regions with particular agronomical and environmental characteristics, including small isolated islands, may require different case-specific management or restrictions measures, including prohibition measures for GMO cultivation’’. This decision was made possible due to the efforts of the Cyprus Government and the lobby of FEEO.

In 2008 FEEO’s collected 78 226 signatures from Cypriot citizens to ban GMOs in Cyprus (Cyprus total population is 749,200).

 Read the full update on FEEO campaign on GMOs