Martin Hellicar

The need for civil society organisations to act as environmental watchdogs remains urgent. The last few weeks have been a rough time on the nature protection front, and the main ‘...

It really is time to challenge the logic of EU farming policy and the way it is formulated. The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is hardly ‘fit-for-purpose’ at the best of ...

As bad news on the bird trapping front made the headlines again recently, angry calls for nature lovers to “Boycott Cyprus!” flooded social media. Speaking as a veteran of the ...

Nearly time to breed: the ‘LIFE with Vultures’ project is slowly gaining ground The first days of the New Year bring hope in a rather odd form: a lighter shade ...

From the casino in Akrotiri to the Akamas roadworks, we are just not learning the lesson I was more than a little interested to read in the press recently that ...

The government is using an EU loophole in the Habitats Directive and tarmacking the island I would like my tax money to be spent on hospitals, schools and on two ...

On Monday this week – in a quiet event and surrounded by family and many dozens of friends and collaborators from across the island – Martin Marancos was laid to rest under ...

You cannot hope for success in promoting Akamas as a nature destination while also allowing development to encroach and expand With wildlife tourism, you really cannot have your cake and ...

Even with the known risks to health and ecosystems, conventional agriculture is hooked on chemical pesticides Things are better than they used to be on the pesticides front. For example, ...

EU effort to bring in an ambitious plan to restore natural systems has taken a battering in Cyprus and elsewhere in the bloc Nature restoration makes total good sense. We ...

We have a crucial window to control this species before our precious native birds suffer Ugly but necessary. That is perhaps the best way of putting it. At first sight, ...

A reprieve for Akamas, but what of the wider countryside and common species? By Martin Hellicar The latest in a long series of ‘save Akamas’ campaigns staves off the worst ...

Two men, two dogs are on a mission – to put an end to animal poisoning She pauses, sniffs again, then stops. Sofie then sits, stock-still. This is the cue for ...

The roadmap the next leader of the country should follow to protect and restore nature This being the season for making wishes, here are some from me. Five things I ...

It is a call to action, not an ‘all is lost’ message. Nonetheless, it is sobering. Very sobering The latest State of the World’s Birds report, just out from ...

Free-ranging cats have caused or contributed to 33 modern-era extinctions of birds, mammals and reptiles We need to talk about cats, however uncomfortable the conversation might be. For our beloved pets ...

Far too much concrete: The misguided plans are not just a huge nature conservation failure, but a monumental failure of common sense By Martin Hellicar By the time you read ...

The regulation actually goes beyond halting biodiversity loss to push for ecosystem restoration, for ‘bringing nature back’ At first sight the positive tone of this column may seem rather out ...

The poisoning of at least three Griffon Vultures was devastating for those of us determined to save these majestic, oh-so-near-to-extinction birds It often feels like conservation work has more bad ...

The latest IPCC report said we will need technological solutions to fight the climate crisis, but it must not be misread So it has come to this. We have, it ...

The lake is a Natura 2000 site twice-over, but this apparent legal protection is doing it little good Paralimni lake is an opportunity squandered on so many levels. And that really ...

Over the last two years, parliament has approved relaxations that mean the penalty for limesticking has been slashed to just €200 for up to 50 birds It is coming back, creeping into ...

Crossbills, Black Pines and Troodos are intricately linked. COP26 must make sure it stays that way The give-away, as often, was the soft ‘pok’ sound made by a pinecone landing ...

The catastrophic failure that is the EU’s agricultural policy, CAP Farmers should receive state support because they are vital to a vital sector and it can be very hard – ...