EC warns Cyprus over impact of development in Natura 2000 sites

[Paphos Life]

The European Commission has sent a formal notice to Cyprus for failing to follow assessment procedures when it comes to plans for Natura 2000, it was reported on Friday....

Read the article and chat about it below...

[Kili01]

Well who’s really surprised about that? Money talks louder than almost anything else... including the EU.
But joking apart this is serious stuff, Cyprus is guilty of prevarication over this Natura 2000 site and little by little those developments are encroaching on the National Park which just gets worse the longer it goes on.
The theme park and the new motorway will just make the situation even worse when completed as it will be quicker for the public to reach it..

Dee

[cyprusmax47]

Well who’s really surprised about that? Money talks louder than almost anything else... including the EU.

The theme park and the new motorway will just make the situation even worse when completed as it will be quicker for the public to reach it..

Dee

The new motorway to Polis has nothing to do with Natura 2000 protected areas as this map from the EU shows...

By the way, the main access to Akamas is via Peyia/Coral Bay not Polis!! The theme park (if they built it) is also outside protected area.
So the usual moaning... The future motorway will also help people living in Argaka, Ayia Marina and specially Pomos and Pyrgos to get easier access to Paphos, Limassol or Nicosia for example if one needs a proper hospital to reach in a reasonable time.



Max

[Kili01]

Hi Max,
You can certainly access the Akamas from several points from Coral Bay Rd, from Ineia, and from the Polis -, Latchi, - Neo Chorio route! But at some parts of the year you need a 4 wheel drive vehicle for actually crossing the unmade part of the route from Agios Georgios to Nea Chorio.Thats until the Govt builds tarmac or concrete roads inside what may eventualky become a National Park,
If someone holds a different view to yours that doesn’t necessarily mean they are moaning! In a democratic country people are allowed to express their opinions.

I agree with you that improved communications by road will help those people living in Argaka and beyond, Though from places nearer to Pomos it might be quicker to cross into the north and take the dual carriageway from Morphou to Nicosia.

Dee

[Dominic]

It doesn't necessarily mean that they are moaning, but it can mean that.

Some of the guff written about the supposed damage the new motorway will cause to the Ezousa Valley is worthy of a Donald Trump tweet.

[Kili01]

I’m not taking sides over the motorway, but views expressed by Birdlife may be valid. It is true that much of Cyprus’s wild life, some of it endemic to Cyprus, whether birds, snakes, cyprus hare for example and not forgetting the poor turtles are endangered now because of a lack of respect by people like hunters, planners and developers amongst others, because their habitats are endangered by mans action or inaction, plus climate change.

Dee

[Dominic]

Sorry, but much of Cyprus' wild life is not endangered. In total, 52 species are.

http://earthsendangered.com/search-regions3.asp

Of those species, let's look at mammals first:

1. Common Bentwing Bat (perhaps should change their name)
2. Long-Fingered Bat
3. Mediterranean Monk Seal
4. Mehely's Horseshoe Bat
5. Urial

How many of them will be affected by a new road?

Apparently there are in total 17 mammal species in Cyprus, though I note that that list doesn't include rats, cats and dogs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mammals_of_Cyprus

There are twenty endangered birds, including a red-breasted goose. I won't list them here because for some reason I can't cut and paste the data.

As to the total number of bird species, there appear to be well over 300.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_birds_of_Cyprus

I could go on, but I think you will have to agree that much of Cyprus' wild life is not in fact endangered.

[Asteri]

Personally I would prefer that things stay the way they are! No theme park, no motorway! If we could turn the clocks back by 40 years then we would be in paradise! We don’t need theme parks to encourage visitors or motorways to get the visitors there quicker!
Nature is number one and to destroy any part of it for monetary reasons is outrageous!
Ok if there is a need for quick transport to hospital that’s a problem but there are ways around these things!
I love this area ferociously and absolutely hate any changes, there have been enough changes during my life here And it is really so sad!

[Dominic]

Cyprus is a country with a population who deserves the right to live in the same modern environment that any other country has. It is not a museum.

[cyprusmax47]

I agree with you that improved communications by road will help those people living in Argaka and beyond, Though from places nearer to Pomos it might be quicker to cross into the north and take the dual carriageway from Morphou to Nicosia.

Dee

I might be quicker to cross into the north if one wants to travel to Nicosia, but locals won't do that, even in a case of emergency they will drive all the way back to Paphos or Limassol clinics.

Max

[Kili01]

That’s their choice. If people stopped looking backwards pre 1974, and looked to the future things might be different here. It’s the local people who are holding the island back and stopping any hope of reunification of the island. Instead they prefer to leave the financing of development now to rich foreigners who are now into building these massive new concrete and steel developments piecemeal. None of which have any Cypriot or even Mediterranean type of architecture.
I know that certain members on here will disagree with me, but there are also plenty of people here who do.
Dee

[cyprusmax47]

That’s their choice. If people stopped looking backwards pre 1974, and looked to the future things might be different here. It’s the local people who are holding the island back and stopping any hope of reunification of the island. Instead they prefer to leave the financing of development now to rich foreigners who are now into building these massive new concrete and steel developments piecemeal. None of which have any Cypriot or even Mediterranean type of architecture.
I know that certain members on here will disagree with me, but there are also plenty of people here who do.
Dee

It is not up to us foreigners to tell the locals how to live and act in THEIR country, after many of them suffered from what happened in the 74 war and before. Specially the area between Pomos and Pyrgos was affected from Turkish bombing when many died at the hospital in Pachyammos. Many people lost all their money and property in the north as well, so how they should finance new housing themselves? Most of the houses in rural areas, ex Turkish or Greek, have no Mediterranean style, except a few villas built from upper-class Nicosia families or politicians, in the traditional Cypriot style with arches, courtyard etc..
Many of houses in the villages look like little boxes, some still with toilets in a garden shed...

Max