BirdLife Cyprus on Monday expressed its strong opposition to the environment department expanding the Electricity Authority’s (EAC) overhead network in the protected territory of the endangered Griffon vulture, at the Natura 2000 site near Paramali river.

“Since 2020, five Bonelli’s eagles have died from electrocution on medium-voltage poles and two from collisions with high-voltage lines, and since 2018, eight Griffon vultures have died from collision or electrocution on power lines across Cyprus,” BirdLife Cyprus said.

“A vulture collided with an overhead line in this area in April 2023, and existing medium and high-voltage lines in the vicinity have already been identified as high-risk by the Life with Vultures project.”

Electrocutions and collisions with power lines are the second-leading cause of death for Griffon vultures and the third for Bonelli’s eagles in Cyprus, according to the NGO.

The expansion of the medium-voltage network was approved to connect a licensed photovoltaic park, despite previous conditions on the park’s approval requiring underground cabling.

The environmental NGO criticised the environment department and the Game Fund for reversing the initial conditions.

The new overhead line will link to an EAC substation in Episkopi, and BirdLife Cyprus warned that the expansion poses significant risks to local bird populations.

BirdLife Cyprus said this new expansion in the vulture’s core habitat adds further risk of collision or electrocution for both vultures and other birds of prey nesting in the region.

“This decision contrasts sharply with national and EU-funded efforts to prevent the extinction of the species in Cyprus, including measures specifically aimed at reducing collision and electrocution risks in the Paramali area,” BirdLife added.

The NGO also said the decision highlights broader systemic issues with environmental assessment and permitting processes in Cyprus, for which the European Commission already has an open case against the country, now nearing referral to the European Court of Justice.

According to the NGO, the photovoltaic park was licensed in 2020 on the essential condition that cabling be installed underground, a stipulation now overridden by a new ecological assessment issued on October 30, which permits the overhead connection without sufficient evaluation of impacts on bird populations.

“BirdLife Cyprus, along with other environmental organisations, presented scientifically substantiated concerns to the environmental department and the Game Fund about the potentially negative impacts of this project on the highly vulnerable vulture population. It is disappointing that a project with such potential impact on the threatened vulture was approved,” its director Melpo Apostolidou said.

Finally, BirdLife Cyprus called on the agriculture ministry to revoke the new ecological assessment.