Akamas Management Plan
AKEL C.C. Press Office, 11th November 2015, Nicosia
At today’s meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on the Environment, the Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and the Environment Mr. Kougialis was called upon to present the final management plans for the Akamas peninsula. Although the management plans as such appear very hopeful, the Minister anything but appeared willing to find a real sustainable solution that will serve the protection of the eco-system, but also the owners of land.
The Minister’s statements leave many questions unanswered and citizens are left wondering especially about the government’s real intentions concerning the future of Akamas. The Minster’s statements refer to the possible development of land inside the area of the NATURA 2000 network, since – as he stressed – such an action is not prohibited by the European Directive itself, as well as to the need, as he also stated, to break loose from the previous decisions that were approved by Ministerial Councils, which provide for compensation for the owners of land on the pretext that the necessary funds do not exist. This statement causes real concerns about what the solution may be.
Is the solution perhaps anarchic development? Or is it perhaps the attempts to satisfy specific interests?
AKEL calls on the government and the relevant Minister, but also the Ministerial Committee, to take a clear position as to what they intend to do in the region of Akamas.
As AKEL, we support the efforts of the environmental movements to protect the area and we support the creation of a National Park, which if used properly and with the development of the surrounding communities being the main component, it subsequently will only have a positive impact on the region.
We consider the Akamas is a unique ecosystem/habitat at both a National but also European level, and for this reason the state must find that the solution which will not divide the owners of land into winners and losers, but that will at the same time safeguard the future of such an important environmental area.
