The Cape Greco area, where the tragic accident happened, has brought a familiar issue back into the spotlight: the missing Protection and Management Orders for Natura 2000 sites. These are the orders meant to set specific conservation targets and proper conservation measures for each area. When it comes to management measures specifically, these should determine, among other things, whether a quad bike should be allowed to travel along a dirt forest track inside a National Forest Park, on protected land like the Cape Greco Sea Caves (Palatia).
What’s more, management measures should be pinning down exact anchoring spots for pleasure boats inside a marine protected area, precisely to stop damage to marine habitats such as Posidonia seagrass meadows, sandbanks and reefs. This also applies to the species that depend on them and their habitats: breeding, nursing, resting and feeding grounds, for the Mediterranean monk seal, for example. These Protection and Management Orders should already have been finalised by the Environment Authority and sent on to the relevant ministers for approval and publication.
What’s true of Cape Greco is just as true of the Akamas Peninsula. Worse still, the Forestry Department hasn’t even issued Operating Regulations for the Cape Greco and Akamas National Forest Parks, while the Orders for Marine Protected Areas, such as Lara-Toxeftra, aren’t actually enforced in practice, and aren’t respected even by the local authorities and district councils that are supposed to enforce them.
This is what protecting the country’s natural capital looks like in 2026.
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