Head of Greenpeace International Urges Cyprus to Protect Akamas

["greenbase" <greenbas@gb.greenpeace.org>]

HEAD OF GREENPEACE INTERNATIONAL TO CYPRUS: PROTECT AKAMAS! 

Dr. Thilo Bode urges Cypriot parliament to declare Akamas
Peninsula a natural reserve

Nicosia, Cyprus, 21 February, 1998 - The Executive Director of
Greenpeace International, Dr. Thilo Bode, appealed to the
Cypriot parliament to approve proposal declaring the Akamas
Peninsula a natural reserve. Rare and endangered turtles nest in
this area which is threatened by ongoing tourist development.

"This current United Nations-declared 'Year of the Oceans'
should be the year when Cyprus sends a message to its neighbors
in the Mediterranean and to the world saying that the Akamas is
finally protected," Dr. Bode said at a press conference.

The Executive Director of  Greenpeace Mediterranean, Dr. Mario
Damato, discussed this issue during the past days with the
President of the Parliament, Mr. Spyros Kyprianou, Ministry of
Environment officials and the head of the Parliamentary
Committee on the Environment, Mr. Demetris Eliades.

The Loggerhead turtles and the Green turtles nest in the beaches
of Akamas, an area where the flora and fauna is truly
impressive. The endangered Green  turtles depend on the beaches
of Akamas for their survival in the Mediterranean. (1)

"We appeal to the new Cypriot government to fulfill numerous
promises made by its predecessors during the past eight years by
stopping tourist development and military exercises in the
Akamas and by finally declaring this peninsula a natural
reserve," said Damato.

"We are very concerned of the damage that is being done to the
natural habitat of Akamas. Planned British army exercises there
must be terminated. No army, British or Cypriot should bomb and
shoot in an area that must be protected against any sort of
distraction," he added.

Greenpeace supports a 1996 report of the World Bank on Akamas
which asked for the protection of the peninsula. This report was
accepted last year by the Parliamentary Committee for the
Environment, but it still has to go through parliament and then
by the council of ministers. 

Dr. Bode is visiting the countries where the Greenpeace
Mediterranean Office is active. He was already in Malta, Turkey
and Lebanon. After his two-day stay in Cyprus he will continue
to Israel. 

The Greenpeace Mediterranean office is a regional office
responsible for Greenpeace activities in the southern and
Eastern Mediterranean. It is presently focused on Cyprus,
Israel, Lebanon and Turkey from its headquarters in Malta and
staff based in these countries.

NOTES:

1. The IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature)
lists Loggerhead Turtles as vulnerable and the Green Turtles as
endangered species.  The annual number of Green Turtles nesting
females in the entire Mediterranean could be as low as 225-275. 
Apart from Cyprus, they nest in a very few other states in the
basin.

The Akamas is an area of rare beauty which has changed little
since Homer's time.  The uniqueness of the area for Cyprus and
for the whole of the Mediterranean is centered on its rare
ecology as well as on its rich archaeological heritage. The
flora and fauna living in this relatively small area is truly
impressive. Rare and epidemic plants grow there and foxes,
snakes and other reptiles as well as many types of migratory
birds live in Akamas or use it in their movement.

END

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