The last remaining sand dunes in Cyprus are quietly being destroyed by unauthorised development activities, environmentalists warned on Monday.

Excavators first entered the coastal site in Limassol, located between Governor’s Beach and Lady’s Mile, two weeks ago on October 28 – a public holiday. Environmental groups allege that the timing was deliberately chosen to avoid oversight.

The initial incursion led residents to alert a local TV channel, which then informed environmental organisations.

The work took place on a private plot near the Moni power station, adjacent to state land within a protected dune zone, according to CyBC.

Despite formal letters sent to various authorities, on Saturday morning another excavator carried on with the earthworks.

The destruction included levelling, uprooting of acacia trees and other vegetation, and cutting back eucalyptus trees, to make way for a well-advertised prospective tourist development.

“Unfortunately, without [state] monitoring and imposition of the law, [illicit interventions] simply can’t be stopped,” Klitos Papastylianou, policy coordinator for NGO Terra Cypria said, speaking to CyBC on Monday.

No reliable means actually exist for the environment department to respond promptly and effectively to such complains, nor do complaints lead to the police getting involved.

“No one does anything, we have so many examples now, and this is deliberate,” head of the parliamentary environment committee Charalambos Theopemptou said, speaking on the same programme.

Nothing has changed in this regard since the previous [Anastasiades] administration, he added.

Despite blatant advertising by developers who openly stated, in a plethora of cases, exactly what their constructions would entail, they are untouchable, he said, and the local administration, as well as all the authorities simply turn a blind eye.

 “The policy of the state is to not unsettle developers.”

Though the area was designated a protected zone in April 2023, the forestry department has yet to declare it as state forest land, a delay that Papastylianou said requires explanation. Restoration efforts, if feasible, would likely be borne by taxpayers, he added, citing the precedent of the Ammos tou Kambouri site.

There may be laws but in the absence of a functional state inspection mechanism [government inspectors], nothing gets done, both speakers pointed out.

State sponsored websites and environmental conferences, and statements about the “uniqueness and importance” of sensitive ecosystems – in this case of the sand dunes, as a protection against rising sea levels and coastal erosion, ring hollow, when crimes carry on being committed with impunity.

The full extent of the damage at the 0.6-square-kilometre site and the cost of potential restoration remain to be assessed. A 2021 EU habitats directive identified five significant dune habitat types across the 25-kilometre stretch and recorded 59 wild flora species, including rare sand-dwelling plants.