In the wake of environmentalist criticism over a golf course in Limni, Agriculture Minister Nicos Kouyialis says that the government is planning a NATURA park in Akamas.

Environmental protection is a priority for the government, he says.

The goal is to upgrade the area in line with similar parks in Europe. The minister expects it to finish in nine months, says the minister.

Initial measures to protect flora and fauna and inform visitors are part of the upgrade. This part takes two months and will cost two million Euros, he adds.

Private land that adjacent to but not included in the NATURA area is to be developed under the government’s guidance, says Kouyialis. The aim is to improve the lives of the local residents.

BUT

But - and it’s a big but - environmentalists strongly disagree with the idea of developing the unspoiled Akamas with projects like golf courses or hotels or anything that could disturb the area’s precious biodiversity and endangered species like loggerhead turtles.

A golf development project at the vital Loggerhead turtle nesting grounds in Limni, Polis, got a license in defiance of all common sense and EU environmental laws, meaning that the Cyprus taxpayer will have to pay for the enormous fines that are sure to rain down on the island after the European Court of Justice rules against it.

The lights emanating from the 160-room hotel to be built by a syndicate led by Shacolas Group would disorient the baby turtles, says Friends of the Earth. The turtles will end up stranded on the land instead of navigating their way to the sea by the light of the moon.

This, in addition to the immense damage to the precious environment surrounding Limni, which is in a Natura protected area. The European Commission has already stated clearly that the project would flout EU laws. A warning that is being ignored.

On an island that is already seeing badly-managed development that clutters up the beautiful seafronts with cheaply-constructed and ill-maintained apartment buildings, the thought of development in Akamas is unbearable.

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