The Movement of Ecologists – Citizens’ Cooperation is demanding an immediate halt to construction works at a site in the Agios Omologites area of Nicosia, alleging that eucalyptus trees are being illegally damaged during the building of an apartment block near the Pedieos river.
In a statement, the party said that months ago it had raised the alarm after dozens of large eucalyptus trees were uprooted on a private plot alongside the river, between Hydras and Laryssis streets, to make way for the development.
The Department of Forests, the Ecologists said, had justified its inaction by saying it could not prohibit tree felling once a building permit had already been issued. The department had reiterated its longstanding request that licensing authorities — in this case the Nicosia Urban Planning Authority (EOA) — consult it before issuing planning permits, so that cases could be assessed before any irreversible action was taken.
The party said it was now the responsibility of the newly elected parliament to act on their proposal to give the Department of Forests the power to impose binding conditions or outright prohibit development where significant trees or tree clusters are at risk.
The Ecologists also noted that they had proposed to local authorities that significant trees and tree clusters be identified so that the Interior Minister could be asked to issue a protection order — a proposal that had been rejected.
The eucalyptus cluster at Hydras and Laryssis streets, they said, was precisely the kind of case such a mechanism was intended to protect.
Residents had also reported that even trees for which no felling permit had been issued were having their roots undercut or severed during construction works — an illegal practice — indicating that no monitoring of the site was being carried out by the responsible authorities.
The Ecologists called on the competent authorities to immediately suspend construction works until guarantees were in place that no further degradation of the greenery on the Hydras and Laryssis streets plot would occur.