Department of Forests of the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment

The Department of Forests is one of the oldest government departments established by the British Colonial Government in Cyprus. The operation of the Department began in 1879, a year after the arrival of the British on the island. Other services such as the “Department of Agriculture” which was established in 1896 were initially under the jurisdiction of the “Chief Forester”.

Previously, during the occupation of the island by Turkey in 1570 – 1878, there was no systematic management or protection of the forests. The forests were then almost destroyed because of uncontrolled felling of trees and other vegetation, free grazing and large area land reclamation for agricultural development and also because of large scale fires.