Climate Change Climate change affects every person in Cyprus. Cyprus is located in one of the most vulnerable areas. The amount of rainfall has been decreasing over the last 30 years, and there are concerns about supply of drinking water to the island. Historical Background of Cyprus Climate: Homer called Cyprus “Dasoessa” which means “Forest covered island”. Since then several reasons led to the continuing destruction of the forests and climate change: - Discovery of copper; - Agriculture; - Lumbering; - Drought periods; - Ship Building; - Fires in Forests; - Animal Gazing; - Land Development; - Human Actions; Nowadays Cyprus is suffering from one of the most intense and exceptional climate changes. Although all sectors of development and life are gradually affected the worst situation is in Agriculture, Forest, Energy, Tourism, and Water Resources. The reduction in the quantity of rainfall is very important. Although the medium annual rainfall in the first 30 years of the century was 559 mms, in the last 30 years it has been reduced in the 462 mms, which is 17% lower than in the beginning of century. We should not ignore that on years 1975-1976 it was about 563 mm, in 1979-1980 it became 582 mm and in 1991-1992 it reached 637 mm. Those are exceptionally high results if we see that in 2005-2006 the rainfall was only 360 mm. This rainfall decrease has been made because of the climate change. The greenhouse effect and the gases that are released in the atmosphere destroyed the ozone and this lead to the climate change and planet’s overheat. As a result there are only 6.4 millions m³ in the dam of Kouris in Cyprus which can supply water to residents in Cyprus only for 3 months. This may devastate Cyprus.