Strasbourg, 22 January 2002                                                            T-PVS/Emerald (2001) 16

[T-pvs Emerald 16e]                                                                                                                                        English only

CONVENTION ON THE conservation of EUROPEAN wildlife

and natural habitats

Group of Experts for the setting up

of the Emerald Network of Areas of Special Conservation Interest

---ooOoo---

Emerald Network Pilot Project in Cyprus

- Report -

Document established by

the Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment

Environment Service, Cyprus


Contents

1. Background............................................................................................................................ 3

2. Framework of the pilot project............................................................................................. 3

3. The national team.................................................................................................................. 4

4. The Emerald workshop.......................................................................................................... 4

4.1. Background.......................................................................................................................... 4

4.2. Participants........................................................................................................................... 4

4.3. Report of the workshop........................................................................................................ 5

5. Identification of Habitats and Species of Nature Conservation Interest.............................. 5

5.1. Habitats types....................................................................................................................... 5

5.2. Flora species......................................................................................................................... 6

5.3. Bird species.......................................................................................................................... 6

5.4. Fauna species....................................................................................................................... 6

6. Follow-up................................................................................................................................ 6


1. Background

Τhe Republic of Cyprus ratified the Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats (Bern, 19 September 1979) on the 18th of March, 1988.

Article 4 of the Convention is the key article οbliging all Contracting Parties to protect the habitats of wild fauna and flora species especially those listed in appendices I and II.

Τhe habitat conservation part of the Convention improved substantially when, in 1996, the Standing Committee adopted a Resolution concerning the establishment of the Pan-European Ecological Network, known as the Emerald Network.

When at the 18th meeting of the Standing Committee, the Rules for the Emerald Network [T‑PVS (98) 4] and the list of species [T-PVS (97) 30 rev] were adopted, it was possible to start the setting up of the Emerald Network of Areas of Special Conservation Interest (ASCI).

Being a party to the Convention, Cyprus has taken fully into consideration its provisions and following Recommendation No. 16 (1989) and Resolution No. 3 (1996), has initiated the process for setting up the Emerald Network.

Οn 30.05.2000 the Council of Europe invited the Republic of Cyprus to implement an Emerald Network pilot project with the overall objective to develop a pilot database containing a fair proportion of Areas of Special Conservation Interest and to submit a proposal for a selected site designation to the Standing Committee of the Bern Convention.  This project is a starting point that will lay the basis for the development of the Emerald Network at national level.

The following documents form the legal basis for developing the Network:

–    Bern Convention, Articles No. 1,2,3,4,6b,9

–    Resolutions No. 1 (1989), 3 and 4 (1996), saved 6 (1998)

–    Recommendations No. 14 and 16 (1989), No. 25 (1991)

The main documents laying down the Emerald Network are:

–    Document T-PVS/Emerald (99) 2 titled "Emerald Network version 1.1.  User Manual"

2. Framework of the pilot project

The framework of the pilot project is defined by Contract No. 23/01 signed with the Council of Europe on 16 March, 2001, and it is as follows:

a.   Set up a national team of experts related to the development of the Emerald Network.  This team should comprise technical, administrative and scientific persons.

b.   Organise a workshop during which the above mentioned team will be initiated to the Emerald principles and technicalities by the staff and the expert of the Council of Europe.  In this work the Emerald Network software will be installed and explained together with instructions concerning the scientific background of data collection.

c.   Evaluate the results on presence of species and habitats within each biogeographical region in the country.

d.   Construct a pilot database on real sites, which will eventually become Emerald sites using the Emerald software.

Since the Republic of Cyprus is a candidate country for accession to the European Union, for all practical purposes the proposals regarding the Emerald Network will coincide with the proposals for the Natura 2000 network under Directive 92/43/EEC (Habitats Directive).

      Under a relevant Life-third countries projects partly financed by European Union, 38 sites have been preliminary identified as possible candidates to be proposed for the National List of Natura 2000 sites in Cyprus. The complete list of these sites is appended to the report.


3. The national team

In April 1999, a LIFE-THIRD COUNTRIES project was initiated titled "Areas of Special Conservation Interest (Directive 92/43/EEC) in Cyprus" with the aim to help

      Cyprus adopt the acquis communautaire in this field.  Among other things, national experts were trained and got acquainted in using the "Natura 2000" database. 

Currently, two experts are familiar with the database and working with it.  The technical expert for digitizing the maps is also well trained.

The national Emerald team of Cyprus consists of the following:

·         Antonis Antoniou – Environment Service (team leader)

·         Myroula Hadjichristophorou – Environment Service

·         Eleftherios Hadjisterkotis – Ministry of Interior

·         Georgios Hadjimichael – Department of Town Planing and Housing

·         Charalambos Christodoulou – Deparment of Forests

·         Costas Papageorgioou – Department of Forests

·         Nicos Chiamarias – Department of Forests

·         Athena Della – Agricultural Research Institute

·         Marina Argyrou – Department of Fisheries and Marine Research

·         Panicos Panayides – Game Fund

·         Antonia Theodosiou – Federation of Environmental and Ecological Organizations of Cyprus

4. The Emerald workshop

4.1. Background

The workshop was organized at the Agricultural Research Institute of the Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment, on 7-8 June, 2001.  Main aims of the worshop were:

–    reach better common understanding of the Emerald process,

–    present existing and future activities,

–    indicate problems and difficulties, and

–    discuss technical details (e.g. date standards, software problems, country specific tables, etc.)

4.2. Participants

      The workshop was opened with an address by the Minister of Agriculture Natural Resources and Environment Mr. Costas Themistocleous.  The following participated in the workshop:

·         Helene Bouguessa - Council of Europe

·         Mark Roekaerts - Technical expert

·         Antonis Antoniou – Environment Service (team leader)

·         Myroula Hadjichristophorou – Environment Service

·         Eleftherios Hadjisterkotis – Ministry of Interior

·         Georgios Hadjimichael – Department of Town Planing and Housing

·         Charalambos Christodoulou – Deparment of Forests

·         Costas Papageorgioou – Department of Forests

·         Nicos Chiamarias – Department of Forests

·         Athena Della – Agricultural Research Institute

·         Marina Argyrou – Department of Fisheries and Marine Research

·         Panicos Panayides – Game Fund

·         Antonia Theodosiou –  Federation of Environmental and Ecological Organizations of Cyprus

·         Stelios Markides - Department of Town Planning and Housing

·         Kyriakos Kyriakou - Department of Forests

·         Charalambos Alexandrou - Department of Forest

·         Christos Hadjiantonis - Department of Agriculture

·         Kyriakos Alexandrou - Department of Agriculture

·         Dina Christodoulou - Agricultural Research Institute

·         Gregoris Papageorgiou - Agricultural Research Institute

·         Nitsa Parouti - Agricultural Research Institute

·         Christophoros Kizourides - Agricultural Research Institute

·         Theodora Nicolaidou – Shammas- Department of Fisheries and Marine Research

·         Loucas Psillakis - Environmental Committes of Limassol

4.3. Report of the workshop

During the workshop, staff member of the Council of Europe, Mrs Helene Bouguessa, explained the legal framework of the Emerald Network, criteria for selection of ASCI and introduced the following relevant Emerald documentation:

–    background of the Emerald Network creation,

–    legal basis of the Emerald Network,

–    process of the site designation,

–    relation of the Emerald Network to other ecological networks,

–    current situation in building up the Emerald Network,

–    Emerald Network-way forward.

After these introductions, the work focused on technical details concerning concepts, data sets and software.

The technical expert Mr. Mark Roekaerts had the following input:

–    demonstrated the final version of the Emerald Network software,

–    explained the main features of the Emerald Network database and the Standard Data Entry form, 

–    provided an explanation step-by-step on the introduction of the data into the Emerald Network database.

5. Identification of Habitats and Species of Nature Conservation Interest

5.1. Habitats types

Scrub and low forest vegetation with Quercus alnifolia

Woodlands with Quercus infectoria (Anagyro foetidae-Quercetum infectoriae)

Cedrus brevifolia forests (Cedrosetum brevifoliae)

Serpentinophilous grassland of Cyprus

Xerophilous Crataegus azarolus rar. aronia scrub, (sub-type)

Genista fasselata brush (sub-type)

Peat grasslands of Troodos

Grey dunes with sclerophyllous shrub communities (Pistacio-Phammetalia, Cisto-Micromerietea)

Pteridium aquilinum fields

Aegean sub-Mediterranean deciduous thickets

East Mediterranean garrigues

Reedbeds and sedgebeds (Phragmition australis, Scirpion maritimi)

Zygophyllum album shifting dunes (white dunes)

Degraded phrygana with Shoenus nigricans

Adiantetea

Calycotome villosa scrub

Pistacia lentiscus formations

Arbutus andrachne matorral

Send dunes with Echium angustifolium

Supralittoral rocks

Supralittoral rock pools

Matorral with Quercus coccifera, Crataegus monoyna etc

Vermetus shelf

Sandy beaches

5.2. Flora species

Arabis kennedyae Meikle

Crocus cyprius Boiss. et Kotschy

Crocus hartmannianus Holmboe

Phlomis brevibracteata Turril

Phlomis cypria Post

Sideritis cypria Post

Salvia veneris Hedge

Astragalus macrocarpus DC. ssp. lefkarensis

Pinguicula crystallina Sm.

Tulipa cypria Stapf

Chionodoxa lochiae Meikle in Kew Bull.

Ophrys kotschyi H. Fleischm. et Soo

Delphinium caseyi B.L.Burtt

Ranunculus kykkoensis Meikle

Centaurea akamantis T. Georgiadis & G. Chatzikyriakou

Brassica hilarionis Post

Scilla morrissi Meikle

Acinos troodi

Onosma troodi

Cynoglossum troodi

5.3. Bird species

Charadrius alexandrinus

Oenanthe cypriaca

Sylvia melanothorax

Certhia brachydactyla dorotheae

Lanius nubicus

Parus ater cypriotes

Otus scops cyprius

Loxia curvirostra guillemardi

Garrulus glandarius glaszneri

Tachybaptus ruficollis

Accipiter gentilis

5.4. Fauna species

Rousettus aegypticus

Ovis orientalis ophion

Coluber cypriensis

Natrix natrix cypriaca

Chelonia mydas mydas

Propomacrus bimucronatus

6. Follow-up

Cyprus will continue the work on building-up the Emerald Network within the implementation of the Strategy and Action Plan for the Conservation of Biological Diversity and the relevant work already undertaken under the Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC).

Public authorities, scientific institutions, NGDs and local authorities will be involved in the process.

One site, namely "Alykes Larnakas", will be proposed sometime next year, by the Government of the Republic of Cyprus as the first national site to be included in the Emerald Network


Appendix 1. Preliminary list of sites proposed for the National List of Natura 2000 sites of Cyprus

Site code

Site name

1.

CY1000001

periochi agias eirinis – kormakiti

2.

CY1000002

oroseira pentadaktylou

3.

CY1000003

periochi alakati

4.

CY2000001

mammari – deneia

5.

CY2000002

alykos potamos – agios sozomenos

6.

CY2000003

periochi mitserou

7.

CY2000004

dasos machaira

8.

CY2000005

madari – papoutsa

9.

CY2000006

dasos pafou

10.

CY3000001

giouti – periochi pachyammou

11.

CY3000002

akrotirio apostolou andrea – nisoi kleides

12.

CY3000003

akrotirio elai – limanouri

13.

CY3000004

salamina – limnes ammochostou

14.

CY3000005

kavo gkreko

15.

CY3000006

thalassio periochi nision

16.

CY3000007

phragman achnas

17.

CY4000001

periochi polis – gyala

18.

CY4000002

chat-potami

19.

CY4000003

koilada diarizou

20.

CY4000004

vouni panagias

21.

CY4000005

episkopi morou nerou

22.

CY4000006

periochi moulia

23.

CY4000007

xeros potamos

24.

CY4000008

mavrokolympos

25.

CY4000009

periochi skoulli

26.

CY4000010

chersonisos akama

27.

CY5000001

dasos lemesou – periochi kyparissias

28.

CY5000002

alyki akrotiriou – ygroviotopos fasouriou

29.

CY5000003

periochi episkopis

30.

CY5000004

ethniko dasiko parko troodous

31.

CY5000005

akrotiro asprop – petra romiou

32.

CY5000006

koilada limnati

33.

CY5000007

periochi asgatas

34.

CY5000001

kabo pyla

35.

CY5000002

alykes larnakas

36.

CY5000003

periochi lympion – agias annas

37.

CY5000004

dasos stayrovouniou

38.

CY5000005

periochi lefkaron