Prof. Dr. Şerife Gündüz: Streams Were Erased from Maps and Construction Permits Were Issued in Those Areas

Speaking on Kıbrıs Postası TV’s Sabahın Haberleri programme, the Director of the Environmental Research Centre at the International Final University stressed that state authorities and citizens must act urgently, noting that streams were removed from maps and construction permits were issued in those areas.

Gündüz said the island had experienced “a very bad three days” following intense rainfall, and questioned why people were building homes inside stream beds. She highlighted the importance of the Public Streams Protection Law, which prohibits any structure that alters the flow or infrastructure of a stream. The construction sector, she argued, is one of the biggest contributors to the problem, as buildings erected along streams disrupt their natural course and lead to flooding.

Gündüz stated that although the law is clear, stream beds were filled with construction as if through a legal process. She said she reviewed the legislation once again before the programme and also consulted urban planners, confirming that no such legal loophole exists. She claimed that public streams—state property—were first mapped and later removed from those maps to pave the way for construction permits.

Warning that abnormal rainfall will become more frequent due to the global climate crisis, Gündüz said the responsibility lies with both the state and the public. She noted that many flood-affected areas consist of buildings constructed within or alongside streams, or on filled-in stream beds. She added that society has become accustomed to taking the easy way out and shifting responsibility onto others, while authorities also tend to transfer legal responsibility to one another, causing confusion—particularly in environmental matters.

Gündüz urged citizens to consider flood and overflow risks when purchasing property, just as they examine title deeds. “You may lose the house you buy within a year,” she said, stressing both financial and emotional consequences.

She emphasised the importance of institutional memory, proper data collection and the use of technology, noting that past and present building locations can easily be identified through satellite imagery and historical sources, including British archives on Cyprus’s streams and dams. These resources, she said, must be utilised, and findings must be put into practice rather than shelved.

On the need for structural solutions, Gündüz echoed experts calling for the construction of dams with adequate funding to prevent flooding. She also stressed that rainwater harvesting is not difficult but requires political will, and that individual efforts alone will not be sufficient. Without intervention, she warned, the island will face increasing drought and water scarcity.

“We are experiencing extremes in everything—and we will experience even worse,” Gündüz said, renewing her call for urgent action.