By Martin Hellicar
ILLEGAL felling is fast turning the carob, one of the most characteristic trees of lowland Cyprus, into an endangered species, the House environment committee heard yesterday.
The subject on the agenda for yesterday morning’s committee session was a proposed amendment to the fire prevention law to combat the environmental hazard posed by unregulated charcoal production. But the carob took centre stage as deputies realised the tree’s excellent charcoal-making properties could be proving it’s undoing.
“In the Limassol area, carobs have almost been wiped out,” Yiannakis Potamitis, of the association of environmental groups, told deputies.
Antonis Antoniou of the Environment Service said the carob problem was not restricted to the Limassol area. “There has been a massive reduction everywhere,” he said, adding that replacing the losses would not be easy because carobs did not grow easily.
The carob can only be cut under licence from District offices, but this did not save it from illegal felling, the committee heard.
Diko deputy Marios Matsakis said charcoal-makers were the main culprits. He estimated that the charcoal-making industry consumed over 100,000 trees a year. Not all of this timber came from legitimate sources, the deputy claimed.
“The trees come from the fields belonging to Limassol people,” he said. Chainsaw-wielding charcoal burners raided the fields, often under cover of night, to make off with carob trees, he said.
Representatives of farmers’ associations objected to charcoal burners being labelled thieves in this way.
Matsakis said what he was concerned about was the illegal felling, not who was perpetrating it. He then turned his attention to local authorities: “Village authorities know what is going on but do nothing. They are afraid of the thieves.”
Representatives of local authorities took exception at this, saying it was up to police to catch the offenders.
Antoniou suggested the way to save carobs was to further reduce the tariff on imported charcoal.
Potamitis suggested the solution was to make a tree-felling licence a prerequisite for securing a charcoal-making licence.
Deputies welcomed this idea, suggesting such a provision be included in the proposed amendment to the fire prevention law.
The amendment provides for the creation of centralised charcoal-making sites, with the aim of putting an end to the fire and smoke hazards posed by the activities of the 120 or so charcoal makers currently operating throughout the Troodos forest area.
Everyone agreed the amendment was a good idea, though farmers’ association representatives said the livelihoods of the charcoal-makers had to be protected by ensuring the new system would not mean additional expense for them.
