The UK Green Party has slammed the British government’s plans to install a powerful new antenna at the Akrotiri Salt Lake, on Cyprus’ southern coast.
The UK Greens’ stance is included in a joint statement signed by Green peer Lord Beaumont, Green member of the Scottish Parliament Robin Harper, the UK Greens’ MEPs and the leader of the Greens on the London Assembly.
Green party MEP Jean Lambert said in the statement that “the mast would ravage an area designated as a Ramsar site and listed as a wetland of international importance”, adding that “Britain really shouldn’t be messing up another country’s environment”.
“The Greens believe the British government is seeking to rush the plan through before Cyprus joins the EU, after which the area, which is home to fairy shrimps and pink flamingos, would demand special protection under EU law,” the statement says.
The area in which the new antenna will be installed has been placed under the Ramsar convention for the preservation of wetlands, and the greens believe the electromagnetic radiation emitted from the giant masts would cause irreversible damage to the environment by destroying nesting and migration sites in the area.
The local Green party, under Deputy George Perdikis has spearheaded the campaign against the antenna, staging vigorous demonstrations in an effort to preserve the natural habitat.
Speaking to the Cyprus Mail yesterday, UK Greens spokesman Peter Polycarpou expressed his party’s solidarity with the Cypriot campaign, assuring they would do everything in their power to make people in the UK aware of the damage the new antenna would cause to the environment.
Polycarpou slammed a decision by the SBA to relocate wildlife and plant life to a different location, which the bases claim would not be affected by the radiation.
“This is typical of the completely ridiculous understanding of environmental issues by most politicians and this is why the Green Party are trying to put a reasoned argument,” Polycarpou said.
“You cannot just change an animal’s environment, because they have adapted to that environment over hundreds of years. You don’t just move a population of animals in the same way you would move a population of people – it just doesn’t work like that. It doesn’t work for people and it doesn’t work for animals.”
Polycarpou said the British government had chosen to begin works at this time of the year when people would be on holiday and therefore have fewer problems with the locals.
“It’s unacceptable that they are not consulting the local people properly and not taking into account the wishes of the local people,” he said.
“This whole thing is being conducted outside the realm of what would be done over here in terms of consultation. They would not get away with it here so why do they think they would get away with it there.”
Polycarpou said that with the new antenna, the level of electromagnetic radiation would increase threefold, and brushed aside a recent report by a team of experts on the area, which effectively gave the go ahead for the installation.
“The study produced insufficient results and they do not know what effect this would have on the environment,” Polycarpou said.
“All we do know is that there will be no path for the birds to migrate to. It will affect the eating habits of the flamingos and in particular the environment in which they migrate, so it’s going to damage them, it’s going to damage the shrimp population and it’s just outrageous that they can do this on a site which is currently protected by the Ramsar Convention since November.”
“Because it is their land they think they can do whatever they want,” he said.
Polycarpou said the Greens were already deciding on what form of action they would take to oppose the installation of the antenna, but stressed his party was opposed to violent demonstrations. He noted that a letter had been sent to Tony Blair, but he was not hopeful of getting an answer on the issue any time soon.
“They just don’t care as far as I am concerned. In the summer, politics shut down in the UK and all they are interested in is funny news. This to them is not of interest because it is a serious political issue and they won’t get involved with it until they get back from holiday.
Polycarpou said any protests at this time would be fruitless: “It’s pointless to go down there and chain yourself at 10 Downing Street, because there’s nobody there.
“It’s a question of finding the right way forward, because we don’t believe in violent protests.
“I believe that reasoned, forceful arguments would make people aware, because it is unacceptable in the way it’s damaging the environment, and in terms of legality people there can do nothing.”
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
