The Mediterranean island’s new government will have to take final decisions on four compensatory measures proposed by the Ministry of Agriculture for Akamas property owners affected by environmental protection plans.
This is what Philenews reported on Friday, adding that the Local Akamas Plan will be published in the Government Gazette on Tuesday – the last day in power of the Nicos Anastasiades administration.
However, the compensatory measures were left to be reviewed and finalised by the new government headed by Nikos Christodoulides.
Insiders said that for the management of private property, it is proposed that where restrictions imposed by the Local Plan affect negative development rights that have been proven to exist prior to the designation of the area as a white zone then a framework of measures to compensate for this loss should apply.
At the same time, in order to create significant economic and social benefits for local communities, it is proposed to develop and implement a Sustainable Tourism Strategy.
This should target particular environmental and cultural characteristics of Akamas, highlighting the important and unique tourism product that this area has to offer.
Specifically, the four proposed measures are:
1) Implementation of a payment system based on Ecosystem Services provided by the affected private land plots.
2) Establishment of an Akamas green fund from the revenues of the National Forest Park, as well as from other sources (e.g. private organizations as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility).
3) Development and implementation of actions of increased expanded subsidies for agricultural plots.
4) Formulation and implementation of a Sustainable Tourism Strategy for the Akamas Peninsula, focusing on the particular environmental and cultural characteristics of the virgin area.
