“It is unthinkable that people should feel the coastline is gradually closing off behind private developments, or that free access to the sea could become a privilege. Development is necessary, but it must have limits. One of those limits must be meaningful protection for the coastal zone.”
Cyprus’ beaches are facing mounting pressure from development and environmental damage. In places, the coastline is gradually being hemmed in by private projects.
The issue drew public attention in June 2025, when plans for a restaurant built into the sea at Agios Ermogenis beach in Limassol caused an outcry. The defence was that the building stood on the boundary of a previously approved restaurant site, whose foundations had gradually been reached by the waves as the coast eroded.
Cyprus remains outside the Barcelona Protocol
Six of the eight EU member states bordering the Mediterranean have joined the Barcelona Convention’s Protocol on Integrated Coastal Zone Management. The protocol has formed part of EU law since 2011. Greece has signed but not ratified it. Cyprus is the only one of the eight that has neither signed nor ratified the protocol.
Public statements have linked Cyprus’ position to a troubled history of coastal planning approvals. In an earlier public statement, Paphos mayor Phedonas Phedonos, who is currently suspended from office, said opposition stemmed from the possibility that permits for around 15 hotels in Ayia Napa and Protaras could be revoked. Referring to an earlier parliamentary debate, he said permits on state and forest land would pose a serious problem.
The Audit Office has identified a different central obstacle: the conflict between the protocol and Cyprus’ Beach Protection Law over the width of the area where building is prohibited.
That law dates back to 7 December 1934. Legal Service opinions and Audit Office reports describe it as outdated for current conditions.
MPs propose a 100-metre coastal protection zone
MPs from the ALMA party have submitted a bill to Parliament’s Interior Committee to amend the Beach Protection Law. It would establish a minimum coastal protection zone 100 metres inland from the highest winter waterline. As a general rule, no new buildings would be allowed within it.
The proposal aims to bring Cyprus closer to Article 8(2)(a) of the Barcelona Protocol.
“The proposal did not come out of theory,” ALMA MP Litsa Droushiotou told Politis. “It came from the way our beaches have been managed for years and the need to move from an old, fragmented system to a clear protection rule.”
Citing Audit Office reports, she said they had highlighted major variations in the width of coastal zones, numerous relaxations and problems tackling illegal interventions.
Drousiotou said the bill also reflects the need to protect the environment and preserve public access to beaches and the sea. It would create a single 100-metre zone measured from the highest winter waterline, set directly by law rather than left to a future administrative map or notice.
Old coastal boundaries now lie in the sea
Droushiotou pointed to outdated coastal protection lines as a clear sign of the problem. In some places, the lines now lie in the sea because they were not updated as the coastline eroded.
A simple rule, she said, would give the public a clear minimum level of protection instead of leaving each beach subject to relaxations, old boundary lines or different administrative decisions.
A law amended dozens of times
For its time, the 1934 law was progressive and helped protect Cyprus’ coastline, said Klitos Papastylianou, environmental policy officer at Terra Cypria. But it has been amended around 45 to 50 times in the past 60 years.
An expert could now argue, he said, that it had become a law for exploiting or developing the beach, rather than protecting it.
Papastylianou said the current law focuses largely on beach facilities and services for swimmers, such as sunbeds, umbrellas and beach-use plans. It gives little attention to coastal landscapes, protected areas, changing ecosystems, climate change, rising sea levels, erosion, severe weather or strong waves. The protocol, by contrast, addresses these issues in separate articles.
Why hasn’t Cyprus signed or ratified the protocol?
Droushiotou cited official records dating back to 2008. The Legal Service had warned that the protocol’s permitted exemptions did not cover private-interest projects, affecting the Cabinet’s powers under national law. The Audit Office later identified the conflict over the no-build zone as a key reason Cyprus had not ratified it.
In 2011, the Legal Service also said the EU’s approval of the protocol created legal obligations for Cyprus. It repeated that position in 2013. The Environment Department prepared a ratification bill, which went to the Attorney General for legal review in 2014, but the process was never completed.
In a 2023 parliamentary response, the government called ratification a “primary and particularly important” need in light of development proposals within the coastal zone. It also acknowledged that the 100-metre rule required an amendment to Chapter 59, the Beach Protection Law.
Droushiotou said that although Cyprus had not signed or ratified the protocol in its own right, that did not mean the obligations arising from it could be ignored. She accused successive governments of failing to make the required changes while serving private interests.
Environmental groups call for stronger protection in sensitive areas
Environmental groups have welcomed the bill, Papastylianou said, but want the government to consider a more comprehensive legal framework for coastal protection.
The protocol sets 100 metres as a minimum. In specially protected areas, the zone can be wider—up to 500 metres, he said. He cited the Lara-Toxeftra Marine Protected Area, where the current beach protection zone is set at 100 metres.
He also pointed to the sea caves of Peyia, where coastal construction has taken place over the past decade, including within the existing 91–92-metre zone. As a result, entire plots have been left outside the protected area.
The proposed 100-metre rule would set a clearer baseline. The debate now facing Parliament is whether that minimum is enough to protect Cyprus’ most sensitive coastal areas.
By Pavlos Neofytou
Translated and adapted from an article published by Politis
