On 8 January 2016, the Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and the Environment, Mr Nicos Kouyialis, presented the catastrophic proposal of the Ministerial Committee about Akamas to the Parliamentary Committee on the Environment. At the same time, Environmental NGOs and active citizens had gathered outside the Parliament for a peaceful demonstration to oppose once more the proposal of the Ministerial Committee for Akamas.
Under the pressure of the President of the Parliamentary Committee on the Environment, the Minister committed himself to negotiate and discuss his proposal with Environmental NGOs and also local authorities, before taking it to the Ministerial Council for voting. He invited the environmental NGOs that were participating in the demonstration outside the Parliament, to visit him at his office, on the say day, i.e. 8 January. However, during this meeting, Mr. Kouyialis did not enter into any kind of negotiation nor did he reply to the many questions raised by the NGOs. Despite his promise to the Parliament, what he did was only to present his proposal and he was not that clear about that either. On Monday 11 January 2016, the Minister’s proposal for Akamas was adopted by the Ministerial Council.
BirdLife Cyprus is in close collaboration with other NGOs in order to prevent this catastrophic decision on Akamas to lead to damage to this last ‘wild’ coastal area. In the meantime, if you haven’t done so already, you can support our efforts by signing the online petition of “Friends of Akamas”, which can be found here.