Cyprus disputes threat to dig up protected turtle nests – Science-Environment News – Report by AFR

A row has erupted in Cyprus after a community leader threatened to dig up the nests of protected turtles because his village lacks land development compensation.

On Thursday, authorities said his “inexcusable” threat would undo decades of conservation efforts if continued.

Yiangos Tsivikos, leader of the Ineia community in the Akamas region of western Mediterranean island, posted a video on YouTube on Wednesday saying he was going to dig up turtle nests on nearby Lara Beach.

He claimed that the nest markings there were fake and urged the Minister of Agriculture and the media to go to Lara Beach on Sunday to watch him dig up the nests.

“Residents are ready for war,” Tsivikos said.

The Department of Fisheries warned Akamas residents that sea turtles and their eggs have been protected by law since 1971.

Conservationists estimate the number of turtle nests in Lara at around 2,000 by 2021. Lara is a habitat of enormous ecological importance for loggerhead and green sea turtles.

Akamas residents have protested the government’s Akamas development plan, which they say prevents them from exploiting their land commercially.

Environmentalists also oppose the plan, saying it endangers the eastern Mediterranean island’s wildlife sanctuary, home to unique fauna and endangered species.

Ineia residents say that while the other villages are receiving compensation under the plan, this is not the case.

Agriculture Minister Costas Kadis admitted on Wednesday that the municipality of Ineia and landowners in the region would be hardest hit by the plan.

“Akamas should be preserved, but on the other hand, the residents of the area should not suffer,” he added.

Protection of the turtle habitat, the Lara-Toxeftra-Akamas area, was secured in 1989.

“Sea turtles are included in the Barcelona Convention on Specially Protected Areas and Biodiversity of the Mediterranean Sea, ratified by Cyprus in 2001,” the Fisheries Ministry said.

“They are also protected by the EU Habitats Directive, which became national law in 2003,” it said, adding that actions to destroy or attempt to destroy turtle nests or eggs are prohibited.