Front to save the Kalkara valley

It was all very nice seeing various initiatives to plant trees during Woodland Week in January. It is probably the only time during the year where one can become a bit emotional in the praise of trees and their importance.

Well, we hope that these trees have a better fate than what seems to await over 170 trees in the Kalkara valley, some of which have survived many struggles. These same trees may not live to see another year if the proposed development takes place. The misinformation of the public that the valley has "been saved" is indeed shameful and arrogant, as only a relatively small part has been scheduled and these trees have been left out.

It is all very ironic when one sees how the Malta Environment and Planning Authority has issued guidelines for afforestation - the government is intent on planting more trees and has enacted a law which protects trees and woodlands and, at the same time, is intent on issuing permits for luxury housing and swimming pools in the area.

This is now the case, despite the thousands of voices against it and the countless efforts of the 20 organisations found within the Front to Save Kalkara Valley. Even the EU Environment Commission had expressed its serious concern at how such a development could have been given the go-ahead by the authorities.

The front is determined to continue with its efforts to ensure the survival of this open space, its trees and the organic farm situated within the condemned area. The fact that this area has been earmarked for development since the 1960s is not at all convincing to us as we feel the government and its planning authorities should have come a long way since then.

And no, no amount of tree-planting will ever make up for the trees and the land destroyed by bulldozers to make way for "development" in an island with an alarmingly high percentage of built-up area (almost 25 per cent). We do not want Kalkara Valley to suffer the same scars as Wied id-Dis with its Busietta Gardens.

Works on site have now been going on for over two weeks and the harsh and throbbing sound of machinery cutting into the rock and tearing away at the land and its fertile soil is indeed a pitiful reminder that we are eons away from any move towards serious sustainable planning and environmental protection.

Yet, all those who have been battling persistently against all odds to save the valley will not give up and we are hereby urging all those who have the Maltese islands at heart to wake up and join forces with us and other groups who are battling for what little is left of our open spaces.