Xenia I Loizidou
AKTI Project and Research Centre
Nicosia
Cyprus

Extended abstract

Introduction

Cyprus, the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, has a coastline of 735 km in length: 295 km under the control of the Republic of Cyprus (40%), 370 km under Turkish occupation since 1974 and inaccessible (50,3%) and 70 km within the Sovereign British Military Bases. This paper refers to the territory under the control of the Republic of Cyprus.

There is not a single legal or planning definition of the coastal zone in Cyprus. The most “popular” definition is the one that suggests the width of the coastal strip to be 2 km inland from the coastline. According to this definition, the coastal strip covers 23% of the island’s total area. 50% of the population lives and works within this strip where 95% of the tourist industry is located. Tourism is by far the most important economic activity of the island whose coastal zone is and has always been the primary destination for tourists (1999 figures show Cyprus with 2,5 million). With an official target of 3,5 million tourists by 2010 (Cyprus Tourism Organisation) i.e., a planned mean annual growth of 3,4%, it is obvious that the coastal zone is under extremely high pressure.

Coastal Policy framework in Cyprus

In Cyprus, as in many other countries, there is no Coastal Zone Management Policy as a separate and self contained document. Policies for the Coastal zone are included in various sectoral policies which apply to different administration areas. The main policies are:

Land use Policy: Land use planning policy in Cyprus is under the responsibility of the Town Planning and Housing Department, Ministry of Interior and it is controlled mainly by the Town and Country Planning Law, which came into force in 1991. The development in the main urban areas is controlled by the Local Plans and in the rural areas through the Policy Statement for the Countryside. The land uses and the development zones are defined through these two planning tools, which are revised every approximately 4 years.

Tourism Policy: The Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO), a semi- Governmental Organisation under the Ministry of Commerce Industry and Tourism is the authority responsible for the Tourism Policy. Several policies and measures for the regulation of tourism development and tourism establishments are in force on the basis of the CTO legislation. As mentioned in the introduction, in 2000 a Strategy for Tourism was prepared by the CTO containing the main strategic goals for Cyprus tourism for the decade 2000 – 2010, aiming in a 40% increase of the number of tourists.

Environmental Policy: The responsibility for the Environmental Policy lies mainly at the Environment Service of the Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment. At this moment, environmental policy in Cyprus is focused on the harmonization with the EU Acquis and the incorporation of EU Directives into the legislation of Cyprus. Environmental policy is expressed in sectoral policies of various natural resources (water, air, forests etc). Except from the Environment Service, more than 10 Governmental Departments and authorities from different Ministries are involved in Environment policies, creating a rather complex system.

Coastal Development in Cyprus – Land uses

• Sub-urbanisation, i.e., rapid population growth and urban development in suburbs located at the edges of the main urban areas
• Coastal development, i.e., rapid coastal tourism development

A major characteristic of the coastal development of the last two decades is that formerly agricultural and natural zones at the coastline are converted to tourist development zones after each revision of the land use planning zones every four years. The situation after the last revision of the land use planning zones in 1997-98 was as follows along the coastline:

• Tourist zones cover 105 km, i.e., 37% of the coastline (in length)
• Open areas/protected natural or archaeological areas cover 125 km, i.e., 43%
• Agricultural zones cover 36 km, i.e., 12%
• Residential zones cover 17 km, i.e., 6%
• Industrial zones cover 9 km, i.e., 3%

It is expected that he new revision of land use planning zones will be published by summer 2003 and the percentage of tourist zones along the coastline is expected to rise, with agricultural coastal zones shrinking. A long “coastal wall” of tourist development has been under construction for the last two decades, all along the coasts of the island.

As a result of the policies and the targets of the Cyprus Tourism Organization, the number of beds in the coastal areas of Cyprus has increased seven fold over the last twenty years, i.e. from 12524 beds in 1980 it became 88302 in 2001. At the same time the numbers in inland areas have increased only by 11%, i.e. from 3902 in 1980 to 4358 in 2001. No study on the carrying capacity of the island has ever been conducted.

The Cyprus experience in Coastal Zone Management

A first effort to implement Integrated Coastal Zone Management in Cyprus was initiated in the period 1993-1995 with the Project “Coastal Zone Management for Cyprus”. The Project was funded within the framework of the European Union Program MEDSPA under the guidance of Delft Hydraulics.

The "framework for analysis" was applied by Delft Hydraulics as the basic concept for the management procedure. The framework distinguishes three major systems in the coastal zone:

• the natural system, which encompasses all relevant non-human domains
• the user functions, which represents the entire set of human interests
in terms of the "use" which is or may be made of the coastal system
• technical and organisational infrastructure

It was recognized that the coastal areas in Cyprus are areas of complex administration, with a multiplicity of authorities, each with its own jurisdiction. Coordination and integration of the activities of all these authorities was the first management problem to be solved. The concept of horizontal and vertical integration was adopted in order to achieve cooperation in a National Committee for Integrated Coastal Zone Management:

• Vertical Integration : the responsibilities of agencies and actors at different level, i.e., from Governmental Departments to District Offices to Local Authorities and to grassroots stakeholders (e.g. hotel owners, coastal land owners, NGOs)
• Horizontal Integration: the responsibilities of the different actors at each level

The National Committee of Integrated Coastal Zone Management was set up and for three years operated very efficiently and very actively. After the end of the first phase of the Project (Inception phase), and the setting up of the principles of ICZM in Cyprus, a crucial decision had to be taken: erosion was recognized as a major problem for the development of coastal areas of Cyprus, with 30% of the coasts under severe erosion. The question was whether to proceed with a general ICZM plan for the island or deal with this very important coastal problem and give practical solutions, based on ICZM principles. The decision, taken by the National Committee was that erosion was clearly a serious problem which needed immediate remedial action. Thus, the Project focused on “Shoreline Management”, and was carried out within the framework of ICZM as set up during its first phase.

By the end of 1995 general policy guidelines to control coastal development for the island were prepared by the Project and Master Plans for coastal protection and improvement measures for three coastal areas. The major important elements introduced both in the guidelines and the Master Plans were:

• Active involvement of stakeholders
• Introduction of the concept of working with the dynamic nature of the coastal environment rather than fighting the forces of the sea
• Introduction of environmental friendly approaches for combating erosion, i.e., application of the concept of retreat management, introduction of the do-nothing option and of soft engineering measures, like beach nourishment and environmental friendly design on "hard" engineering works
  
• Introduction of detail monitoring schemes.

The outcomes of that Project have been adopted as the official Governmental plans for the Coastal Zone of Cyprus.

This project has been the only systematic effort to implement an ICZM approach in Cyprus until now. Unfortunately, the whole effort collapsed when the project ended. The main reason for this was that the outcomes of the project, although adopted officially by the Government, were not introduced into the planning procedure and in the development policies and plans referring to coastal area, which are under the jurisdiction of the different authorities. Thus, each authority kept on planning without taking into account any of the outcomes of the previous project. The National Committee of Coasts, as it was formed and operated throughout the duration of the Project still exists but it is operating non-efficiently.

Since late 2002, a CAMP Cyprus Project has been launched aiming at implementing a Coastal Area Management Programme in Cyprus. The Project has been commissioned by the Priority Actions Programme Regional Activity Centre (PAP/RAC) of the Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP)- UNEP. The Project is ongoing.

A SAP-Bio Project is also ongoing, commissioned by MAP- UNEP, aiming at preparing the Strategic Action Plan for the Biodiversity of Coastal and Marine environment in Cyprus.

These two projects have the potential to mobilise a new effort to implement ICZM in Cyprus.

Closing remarks

Since 1993, the World Bank, in the report “Republic of Cyprus. Environmental Review and Action Plan”, noted: the development of tourism, the main contribution to the economic growth of Cyprus has been substantial…. Planning has been erratic, if not nonexistent, and with infrastructure and municipal services being inadequate, the coastal zone has suffered some degradation”. The World Bank suggested “… the need for adequate infrastructure and more attention to planning requirements” and “… the need for a development plan for the coastal zone which would ensure adequate protection of environmentally fragile areas, etc”.

The problem of erratic and fragmented approach of coastal development still exists. The complexity in the decision-making process, the large number of involved authorities, the lack of effective coordination and the huge financial interests involved in the coastal area can been addressed as the main reasons for this situation.

As an island, the vulnerability of the coastal strip is extremely high in Cyprus, since all land-based activities have a direct impact on this narrow strip. A well balanced coastal policy, based on an integrated approach and involving all the stakeholders is a demand of high priority for Cyprus, at least if the target is sustainable development.

References

Delft Hydraulics, Coastal Zone Management for Cyprus, Phase III Report, 1995
X.I. Loizidou et al, Coastal Zone Management for Cyprus, ProceedingsMEDCOAST 95.
X.I. Loizidou, N.G. Iacovou, The Cyprus Experience in coastal zone monitoring as a basis for shoreline management and erosion control, Proceedings of MEDCOAST 95.
A. Demetropoulos, SAP- Bio Cyprus Draft report, Nicosia February 2003
Glafkos Constantinides, CAMP Cyprus, Diagnostic- Feasibility Report, Nicosia, June 2002
World Bank, Republic of Cyprus- Environmental Review and Action Plan, Nicosia, 1993
Cyprus Tourism Organisation, Strategic Plan for Tourism 2000 – 2010, Nicosia 2000.