Melina Nicolaides
Originally from the island of Cyprus, Melina Nicolaides is an environmentally-engaged curator, writer and artist, and served as Advisor for the Climate Change Initiative for the EMME Region (EMME-CCI) of the Government of Cyprus at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Born in Washington, D.C., she spent her childhood years in New Delhi and South Asia, followed by secondary education in Geneva, Switzerland, and completion of her studies at the St. George’s British School of Rome (Head Girl). She holds a BA in History from Princeton University, obtained with the thesis A Problem of Authenticity and Representation in a 19th Century Vision of the Orient, considered through Verdi’s opera ‘Aida’ as first presented in Cairo in 1871. Following an extended training-period at the European Union in the sectors of Communication, Information and Cultural Heritage (D.G. X), she went on to earn a multidisciplinary MFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art, which she attended as an A.G. Leventis Foundation Scholar, and where she received the Institution’s Graduate Award. Following this, her work was presented in solo and over fifty group exhibitions and events internationally, while also receiving multiple art awards, art and culture fellowships, and governmental project grants both in the USA and in Europe.
Over the years, channeling new interests and continued study, her practice expanded in scope towards topics that related to creating new perspectives for connecting efforts towards environmental and social change. As Founding Director of ACTIVATE Nonprofit Arts Organization, her focus turned towards the development of collaborative and cross-disciplinary projects that address and communicate the climate change-related challenges of the Eastern Mediterranean, Middle East & North Africa (MENA) region, and bridge the fields of science, art, culture and society. As research-based initiatives that bring together people from across this region and diverse spheres of knowledge, the aim of these projects is to build creative, human-centered, and solution-oriented collaborations related to water, food and energy security.
In addressing these connected topics, the primary objectives include unifying the diverse efforts being carried out across the region – from within the scientific community and academia to individuals working on the ground – while also highlighting the multiple environmental, social, and cultural ‘connected points’ or commonalities shared between the countries and peoples of the MENA region. The underlying principle, while also encouraging public awareness, is to illustrate how working as a broader community – and acknowledging and integrating these factors – will ultimately benefit the crafting of appropriate strategies and applicable environmental policies for this region.
Melina is internationally Permaculture Design certified (PDC), is an active member of the Advisory Board of the Future Earth MENA Regional Center (FEMRC) hosted by The Cyprus Institute, and served on the Steering Committee for the E.U. Interreg MED Program Aristoil, which is now in its on-the-ground capacity-building stage. While on the Steering Committee for the planned Future Earth regional scientific conference Water in the MENA Region: Preparing for a Changing World organized with the University of Bahrain, she developed a series of partner events and water-related public projects that served to broaden the mission and scope of this conference. She is currently on the Advisory Committee of the upcoming 3rd International Water Forum that will take place in Athens in May 2024, and on the Organizing Committee of the upcoming Climate Crisis In the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East Conference, scheduled for September of this year in Cyprus.
Climate Action in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East
The Eastern Mediterranean & Middle East Climate Change Initiative (EMME-CCI) of the Government of the Republic of Cyprus, an international initiative to help bring together the efforts of the EMME region to ameliorate climate change and its impacts, was launched in March of 2019.
This Initiative began with its first phase, the compiling of extensive research by 13 Thematic Scientific Task Forces made up of over 240 scientists and experts contributing from across the region. These Task Forces collected knowledge to produce EMME-focused research Reports that identify gaps in research and policy needs, and also proposed ‘toolkits’ of possible actions and recommendations to address the region’s unique climate challenges with EMME-specific polices. The EMME countries include: Bahrain, Cyprus, Egypt, Greece, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, State of Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey and the UAE.
This scientific phase was spearheaded from 2019-21 by The Cyprus Institute, which now hosts the Interim CCI Secretariat. Together with the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment, a final EMME Regional Climate Action Plan was presented at a Leaders Summit that was organized as a sideline event at the UNFCCC COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt on 8 November 2022. At this event, co-hosted by the former President of Cyprus and the President of Egypt, the Sharm el-Sheikh Declaration launched the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East Climate Change Initiative, signed by the attending leaders and representatives of the EMME Countries, in willingness to utilize policies and measures included in the Regional Action Plan.
Having first served on the Task Force for the Built Environment, Melina was then appointed at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and served as Advisor for the second and intergovernmental phase of the EMME-CCI, with the specific mandate to propose new communicative and cross-disciplinary pathways for the creation of a Climate Action Diplomacy strategy for the Cyprus Government Climate Initiative, in collaboration with the countries of the Eastern Mediterranean & Middle East region.
““Today, finding a definitive path towards collective action and true collaboration across the EMME Region is the only way we can ensure a safe and just future for the peoples of this area against the growing impacts of climate change. Our shared goal is making the world a better place to live in for our next generations, and to strive for more than just survival: ways in which we will evolve and thrive in the future.
With Cop 27 and 28 having been held in this region of the world, we must commit to keep finding new ways to work together - to find solutions to our unique challenges, to share best practices and our new innovations. We must find new pathways through which to engage and truly begin a new era of creative cooperation on climate action in the region, within this decade that began with such unexpected challenges and difficulties.
As an example to the rest of the world, we need to show that we have understood the innate connections between our cultures; to embrace and to share each of our country’s greatest strengths with one another; and to keep giving a higher platform to the voices of our exceptional youth climate actors.
Ultimately, each new pathway we create for collaboration on climate action must become part of our shared culture, as this is truly the crucial element for our progress ahead together in the future. And for this to happen, the nature of our regional climate action diplomacy must be to keep reaching deeper.
Deeper in our understanding, and encouragement, and valuation of our own goals - within the larger framework of those of our regional friends and neighbors.”
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