Terra Cypria – The Cyprus Conservation Foundation and BirdLife Cyprus on Friday voiced serious concerns over escalating threats to Lady’s Mile Beach.
The environmental groups are calling for the British Sovereign Base Areas (SBAs) Administration to enforce existing legislation more effectively and promptly.
Lady’s Mile Beach is recognised under the Ordinance for Nature and Wildlife of 2007 and the Ordinance for Wild Birds and Game Species of 2008, as both a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and a Special Protection Area (SPA).
The beach is home to vital and protected natural habitats, rare plant species listed in The Red Data Book of the Flora of Cyprus, and is crucial for sea turtle nesting.
The globally vulnerable Loggerhead Turtle (*Caretta caretta) and the globally endangered Green Turtle (*Chelonia mydas) both nest on this beach, which is also a habitat for the endangered Schreiber’s Fringe-fingered Lizard (Acanthodactylus schreiberi) and the Kentish plover (Charadrius alexandrinus).
The Akrotiri Peninsula Environmental Management Plan, published in September 2012, highlights that Lady’s Mile Beach faces “multiple pressures, severe threats, and significant impacts, due to rampant developments and recreational activities.”
Key threats include habitat loss, degradation, and fragmentation due to infrastructure, such as roads and parking places, and recreational facilities like restaurants, sun beds, and beach umbrellas.
The plan notes, “Restaurants managing sun beds and beach umbrellas do not follow the existing regulations and their licensing conditions.”
Violations of Article 14 of the Seashore Protection Ordinance of 2013, which mandates the removal of sun beds and beach umbrellas between 7 pm and 7 am, have led to incidents where sea turtles were prevented from nesting.
“Sea turtles had been prevented from nesting when sun beds that were not removed after 7 pm presented an obstacle,” causing turtles to return to the water without laying eggs.
Additionally, unauthorised events organized by restaurants on the beach at night, involving light and sound, disrupt the nesting activity of sea turtles and waterbirds.
The environmental organisations have expressed frustration over the lack of effective measures and penalties by the SBA administration.
“The situation in the past few years has worsened, as it seems that no effective measures are being taken,” and “the existing legislation is essentially not adequately implemented.” They stress the need for an integrated management approach, stating, “A nesting site, as in the case of Lady’s Mile Beach, should be considered as a single unit and managed in an integrated way.”
Terra Cypria and BirdLife Cyprus are urging the SBAs Administration to adopt a “zero tolerance” policy towards breaches of the Ordinance for Nature and Wildlife of 2007, the Ordinance for Wild Birds and Game Species of 2008, and the Seashore Protection Ordinance of 2013.
They emphasise, “Prioritising the preservation of the area’s ecological integrity is of utmost importance,” and recommend the enactment of specific ordinances for the protection and management of nature and wildlife in the SAC Akrotiri and the SPA Akrotiri Wetlands.
The environmental groups call for the “correct, timely and strict enforcement of the existing legislation,” ensuring the removal of all amenities during nighttime and the proper licensing of events. They underline the urgent need to protect this valuable coastal ecosystem to support the species it hosts and maintain its ecological balance.
