As wildfires become an increasingly frequent and destructive feature of Cyprus’ summers, a new youth-led initiative is seeking to reframe the issue beyond environmental damage alone, placing it within a wider conversation about shared risk, cooperation, and peacebuilding.
Across the Flames: A cross-community dialogue on wildfires
The first initiative led by Andria Paphiti, a UN Youth Champion for Environment and Peace and co-founder of ReLeaf, a youth-driven collective focused on environmental resilience and cross-community collaboration on the island. The workshop will take place on Saturday, 17 January 2026, at the Ledra Palace Hotel in Nicosia, inside the UN Buffer Zone.
For Paphiti, wildfires are not only a matter of climate change or land management, but a social and policy challenge that cuts across communities.
“In Cyprus, wildfires increasingly affect people on both sides of the divide,” she explains. “Approaching them through a cross-community lens allows us to move past borders and focus on shared responsibility.”
Each summer, the same smoke hangs over villages and cities, north and south, carrying with it the same fear, loss, and exhaustion. What struck her, she says, was how often wildfires were discussed as isolated incidents, stripped of their human and communal dimensions. Across the Flames grew out of a desire to sit people in the same room and ask a different set of questions. What wildfires reveal about how Cypriots live with risk, with one another, and with a changing climate. As she notes, the workshop is about creating a shared moment of recognition, where environmental vulnerability becomes a common language and dialogue itself becomes a form of resilience.
The workshop is designed as an accessible entry point into this conversation. It will open with a documentary screening to set the context, followed by a panel discussion with environmental experts examining wildfire trends, underlying drivers such as climate change and land use, and mitigation and prevention strategies relevant to Cyprus and the wider region.
Who can join
The event is open to students, young professionals, and members of the wider public, with no prior expertise required. The emphasis, Paphiti says, is on learning, dialogue, and connection. Participants are expected to leave with a clearer understanding of wildfire risks, practical insights into community-level and policy responses, and a renewed sense of shared responsibility in the face of a growing environmental threat.
The UN Youth Champions for Environment and Peace programme
Across the Flames forms part of the UN Youth Champions for Environment and Peace programme, funded by UNFICYP and the British Council. The programme supports youth-led initiatives that link environmental sustainability with peacebuilding, a dual focus that sits at the core of both the workshop and ReLeaf’s broader mission.
ReLeaf, which Paphiti co-founded, positions environmental resilience as a platform for cooperation rather than competition, emphasising that ecological challenges on the island are inherently shared. Across the Flames is intended as a first step in a longer series of actions that bring together environmental awareness, policy discussion, and inclusive participation.
Attendance at the workshop requires prior registration, as access to the Ledra Palace Hotel is strictly controlled. Registered participants will need to present valid identification at the Ledra Palace checkpoint, and only those who have signed up in advance will be granted entry.
Further information and updates on the initiative can be found through ReLeaf on Instagram at @releaf.cy, or by contacting the organisers directly via email.
Timeline of the event:
