The Inia-Lara Turtle Museum in Inia, Paphos will host the free workshop Akamas in Action on the ecological and cultural significance and the future of the Akamas region on Saturday, February 8.
Aiming to promote public participation, the organisers are introducing participants to innovative methods of landscape evaluation emphasising conservation and sustainable development with the support of new technologies including AI or geoinformatics.
With its unspoilt beaches, forests, multiple gorges and unique flora and fauna including protected species such as fruit-eating bats, sea turtles and eagles, Akamas is one of the most environmentally areas of Cyprus.
It covers an area of approximately 17,000 hectares, of which 7,000 hectares are state forests and the remaining 10,000 hectares are private property and some state land.
In the last years, the area had repeatedly made headlines as NGOs claimed authorities were committing “environmental crimes” the region and not complying with the legally binding assessment report issued for the Unesco World Heritage site in 2022.
The most recent stir was caused after the government decided to put a full stop to controversial roadwork plans in the unspoilt peninsula. Pending the implementation of conditions aimed at reducing its environmental footprint, works had been on hold since December 2023. From the environmentalists’ perspective, however, the pause offers an opportunity to reconsider the plan’s terms, which still appear to be in limbo for the Akamas peninsula.
Shortly after work began in September 2023 to improve 13.4 kilometres of roads aimed at promoting visitation and tourism in the area in the Akamas National Forest Park, NGOs accused the contractors of violating agreed specifications.
Only two months later, in November 2023, NGO Terra Cypria published documentation of several violations, with photographic evidence. Among others, these violations included illegal structures at the famous Lara beach, removal of protective bollards, indiscriminate dumping and widening of dirt roads beyond limits stipulated in the plan’s conditions.
The now-paused roadworks comprised Phase 1 of the sustainable development and management plan the area. Phases 2 and 3 involving the construction of information points and rest stops for visitors are yet to follow.
Akamas continues to face significant challenges from human activities. These include littering, urban expansion and groups of overseas tourists in 4×4 vehicles, which deprive any nature lover of the pleasure of experiencing a unique piece of nature. This will lead to further degradation of the landscape in the future.
In order to prevent said degradation, the “Akamas in Action” workshop aims to raise public awareness for the pressing issues the area is facing. The workshop is part of the European research project Topio, which aims to assess the quality of ecologically important landscapes by considering Akamas “as a Living Laboratory”.
Topio plans to organise a variety of activities to encourage the involvement of the community and engage both local residents and visitors in conservation efforts. These include guided nature walks, workshops and research initiatives including field trips by European scientists.
In April 2025, researchers from Rome’s Sapienza University will visit the area, followed by a team from Lisbon in June. As part of the project, Akamas will also be compared with other case study areas in Italy, Spain, Portugal and Belgium, providing insights into landscape conservation in different European regions.
The facilitators will analyse and map the different landscapes using innovative technologies. Firstly, geoinformatics will be used to analyse and map the landscapes. This technology uses information science infrastructure to address problems in earth sciences like cartography or GPS. It then uses artificial intelligence to assess the landscape’s aesthetic and environmental quality.
One of the key innovations of the project is the development of digital twins. These are highly detailed virtual representations of the areas studied to help monitor and manage the landscape.
The “Akamas in Action” workshop takes place from 09:30am to 13:00pm on February 8 at the Inia-Lara Turtle Museum. It will include presentations about the ecological and cultural significance of Akamas and the objectives of the Topio project. Later on, participants are invited to take part in group discussions and finally end the day with a guided tour at the museum.
Participation is free, with optional registration available here.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/topio.project/
Website: http://topioproject.eu/
Click here to change your cookie preferences