Sustainable Cyclades

“Sustainable Cyclades” is a journalistic project that focuses on the challenges facing the South Aegean island complex of Cyclades in the era of hyper-tourism. It started in October 2023 with a time horizon of 18 months and, through thorough and in-depth journalistic coverage, it aims to highlight the intractable problems associated with this new phase in the life of the Cyclades, from the inability of basic infrastructure to cope with the summer population explosion to the lack of public services, the degradation of the environment and the erosion of local traditions. The aim is to contribute research and data to facilitate the reflection of local communities on how they can prosper without sacrificing the uniqueness of the islands that makes them so attractive as tourist destinations. The content produced is published on www.sustainablecyclades.gr and is available to the public and the media for republication under a Creative Commons license (CC-BY), so that it can be disseminated as widely as possible.

In addition to articles and surveys that were systematically published, and updates on events and news from the island community, Sustainable Cyclades participated in organized actions of involvement of residents that helped to highlight as much as possible the issues that concern the local community and by extension the general issues of sustainable development that concern the general population. Through reports, interviews and special features, Sustainable Cyclades monitored, documented and presented around the year and not just for the high-season, how environmental, development and carrying capacity issues are addressed by the local community, economic actors, local government and central government. The project also organised three public events, two in Athens and one in Sifnos, for in-depth discussion and dialogue on key issues.