THE Environmental Services are negotiating with communities in the Akamas peninsula to get support for their inclusion in the EU’s ecological network, Natura 2000. A number of communities oppose the move due to fears it would create obstacles to future development in the area.
The government is obliged to designate special areas of conservation in Cyprus and submit them to Brussels by May 1. So far, it has chosen 34 zones in the government-controlled areas while a further 10 lie in the occupied north and British Bases. According to the Environmental Services, inclusion in the ecological network would help bring life back to the dwindling populace of the countryside while imposing management plans for each area to maintain and protect their ecosystems.
One official described inclusion as a lifeline for the countryside. The Environmental Services official said designating a zone within Natura 2000 would not mean the end of development, but instead dictate a measured growth of the area.
According to reports, the communities of Polis Chrysochous, Ineia and Koili are reluctant to increase protection zones in their areas, arguing that local residents would be adversely affected by the move. Some are even demanding to water down existing ecological protection measures.
The Environmental Services is currently discussing the inclusion of two areas in the Natura 2000 with local communities; the Skoulli and Polis-Yalia zones.
Regarding the former, locals are demanding that the river protection zone currently in force in the area be dramatically reduced down to 10m from either side of the bank. Locals are also asking for the building coefficient to increase from one to six per cent. This would allow landowners to build on six per cent of the total land area, instead of only one.
For the Polis-Yalia region, local authorities are asking that the ecological protection zone, approved by the Town Planning Department, be abolished completely and replaced by a coastal protection zone only, thereby only regulating development on the coastline.
One official told the Cyprus Mail that there had been opposition to inclusion in the European network but reports which spoke of threatening behaviour at meetings were exaggerated.
“There are problems and they need to be sorted out. But it is our obligation to propose these areas to the EU,” said the official.
He added that the department had chosen mostly agricultural lands in their proposals, not urban, many of which are already subject to protection under Town Planning regulations.
But the biggest problem appears to be money and the value of land. Restrictive laws on development have a direct effect on the value of land in undeveloped areas. But then again, so do lax regulations.
