On the western side of Cyprus, a decades-long battle to preserve the iconic Akamas National Forest Park is still ongoing.
In 2009, the Government of the Republic of Cyprus designated part of the Akamas peninsula as a Natura 2000 site as several of Akamas’s habitats have been designated as Special Protection Areas under the EU Birds Directive and as Sites of Community importance under the EU Habitats Directive.
The area is considerably fragmented since it has different ownership statuses (state-owned forest land and private land) and it is governed by three different spatial planning regimes that will regulate future development in the area.
