Child's worst toxin and other seminars

Less than three weeks to go until we become part of Europe. While we may not be totally prepared environmentally, the direction ahead is becoming clearer.

Prey to a statistic, Malta has lost Objective 1 funding. As pointed out recently by Ronald Gallimore, head of the European Community delegation, there are many smaller funds for a range of projects and activities. Speaking at the conclusion of a soil systems project, Mr Gallimore said that there are over 55 different funds to be tapped into.

The call for farmers to apply for financial aid to rebuild rubble walls closes on April 22. For those who require assistance during the conversion to organic farming methods, the deadline for applications is May 17.

European soil strategy

A natural sieve overlying the aquifer, soil is a living habitat in its own right containing a memory of past heritage in the landscape. The National Soil Research Institute (NSRI) based at Cranfield University, UK, aims to promote sustainable soil use. The institute has been working over the past two years with the Ministry for Rural Affairs and Environment on a soil information project.

At a seminar marking the conclusion of the project NSRI Director Mark Kibblewhite referred to Malta as a benchmark case study for European soil management at a seminar to mark the conclusion of the MALSIS project. The result is a soil information system for the Maltese Islands, providing us with a map of the different types of soil useful for planning crop production. The maps and reports on soil properties are expected to be important drivers of policy decisions commented principal research scientist Dr Stephen Hallet.

Speaking at the closing of the seminar, Minister George Pullicino said that the next step would be the setting up of a National Soil Office within the Agriculture and Rural Development Division.

Unleaded intellect

Children have no control over their environment and rely on adults to provide an environment that does not put their health at risk. They are more heavily exposed per unit of body weight to environmental toxins than adults. Their growth and development can easily be disrupted by exposure to toxic substances. That is why the World Health Organisation has started to look at the environment from the perspective of child health.

Malta has just hosted the preparatory meeting for the fourth ministerial conference on Environment and Health to be held in Budapest in June.

A study made public at the meeting indicates that lead is the single most important chemical toxicant. Permanent brain damage is suffered by 18 million children in developing countries around the world overexposed to lead. Attention deficit, learning disabilities, poor co-ordination and poor language development are all signs that the child's intellectual potential is at risk through long term contact with the heavy metal.

In the mid-Eighties a WHO study revealed that the Maltese population had one of the highest levels in the world of lead in blood. This dropped by half after controlling the import of red lead paint and prohibiting the use of painted wood in bakeries. Malta phased out leaded petrol in January 2003 but an unknown amount of lead pellets from hunters' shotguns continues to rain down on us each year with a build-up effect on our soil and groundwater.

Lead is not the only substance that threatens children's health. Documented risks for the 30,000 chemicals produced and dispersed in the environment within the WHO European region include lower IQ, chronic neurotoxicity, birth defects and cancer.

Speaking at the WHO meeting, Health Minister Dr Louis Deguara announced that his ministry plans to draw up a national children's environment and health action plan involving all sectors.

The precautionary principle was also discussed at the pre-conference meeting. Dr Roberto Bertollini, of the WHO Regional Office for Europe, urged a bold new precautionary approach. He said that for too long policy-makers have retrospectively pleaded "if only we had known earlier what we know now."

If applied earlier the precautionary principle could have saved millions of lives but convincing proof of harm, was awaited before action was taken. Dr Bertollini added that this controversy has been fuelled by pressure from vested interests of industry and free trade that consider the precautionary principle a hindrance.

"I believe that what we do know now must guide us in our review and approval processes and become the basis of a bold new approach that puts the burden on evidence of safety first," he concluded.

Hazards of waste management

By definition anything which is infectious, irritant, corrosive or toxic is classified as hazardous. Toxic means any substance which if inhaled, ingested or absorbed through the skin may cause a health risk. Hazardous waste also includes that which is oxidising, flammable, explosive or causes cancer (carcinogen), mutation of genes (mutagen) or interferes with the normal development of a foetus (teratogen). Most people have little idea what happens to this type of waste or how much it costs to dispose of it.

The British High Commission was instrumental in bringing waste management consultant Jessica Ball to Malta to speak on how the UK is dealing with hazardous waste at a seminar for industrialists held at the Chamber of Commerce.

Contaminated soil from former industrial sites, oil waste and leftovers from pesticide and pharmaceutical industries are among the problematic wastes that waste managers in Britain have had to deal with. As legislation in the UK transposed EU law Britain's heavy reliance on the cheap option of landfilling hazardous waste was forced to stop. EU directives oblige the producer of waste to take responsibility. The landfill directive sets specific requirements for the different types of landfill: hazardous, non-hazardous and inert (eg stone waste). Much higher engineering standards are required for a hazardous waste landfill.

The lazy ones pay

Changes in the way local councils handle waste management contracts are in the offing as we accede to the EU and undertake Europe's diverse laws and regulations concerning waste.

A seminar aimed at deciding who will separate waste and who will pay the costs of waste management was attended by representatives from local councils and contractors. Organised by the Malta Institute of Waste Management, the seminar provided an open forum for discussion of some finer logistical problems between all parties.

In post-accession Malta collection of different types of household waste are likely to take place on different days. Kitchen scraps are to be kept separate from the rest so as not to contaminate recyclable materials.

Outside the home separation of waste must extend to skips. The contractor will be charged higher rates for a ton of rubble which contains other incompatible types of waste mixed with it. If mixed the potential resource is cancelled out due to a contamination of the material. In some cases the higher charge may have to be transferred onto whoever has rented the skip. It works out cheaper to separate. The lazy ones will end up paying.

Nature Trust and the Federation of Industries organised a separate seminar on environmental responsibility for companies. The role of the Malta Standards Authority and environmental auditing was discussed. Two local case studies of manufacturing companies which give importance to corporate environment were presented.

From Golden Bay to Fomm ir-Rih

Remember what happened to the poor spoonbills after TV coverage of their visit? This time BirdLife kept quiet about a second sighting of migrating wetland birds. But the hunters' grapevine was singing all the same. Several suspicious-looking persons loitering outside the Ghadira reserve with shotguns were challenged by the police.

Something so rare grows on the North West coast that I don't even want to talk about it. For too long we have tended to want to keep secret rather than share with the world our natural treasures. Anyone well versed in environmental studies knows this particular one to be yet another priceless diamond in the treasure chest of our bio-diversity held ransom by pirates and thieves.

Just around the corner from the area in question lies Bahrija. This infamous hide-out for environmental criminals still smoulders with lethal insecticide thrown into the stream to decimate the habitat of the freshwater crab which stands between groping developers and the land.

Some of the best environmental news to hit our shores in a very long time has been the UNEP Mediterranean Action Plan's design for a specially protected area on the North West coast. The European Commission is giving financial support to the regional project for the development of marine and coastal protected areas in the Mediterranean. The sea and coastline stretching from north of Golden Bay to south of Fomm ir-Rih Bay is one of the few chosen sites in the region to benefit as a marine protected area.

Among the more immediate aims is the protection of a number of critical and sensitive species and the habitats they form. The pen shell (nakkra) and date mussel (tamra) found in the area are on the list of threatened and endangered species together with coral, starfish and long-spined sea urchins being particularly vulnerable to collecting, net fishing and illegal dynamite fishing.

On land the very rare and unique formations of the blue clay slopes which support steppe vegetation are easily prone to erosion. Oil and tar pollution pose a threat to the rocky platforms, wave cut terraces and cobble beaches. Semi-submerged caves attract birds and bats searching for nesting sites but the underwater fauna can suffer mechanical damage from scuba divers.

Establishment of guided underwater routes for divers and snorkellers can be achieved by consulting tour operators and the 40 dive centres on the island. Concessions would be made for use of the Marine Protected Area logo. The value of the area still needs to be assessed for the development of scuba diving which could be promoted in a more sustainable way.

It is a pity this admirable initiative has been marred by an outwardly intolerant attitude toward the very NGOs that MEPA had hoped to involve in public consultation in such projects. The three week period for comment was only negotiated after fierce interventions from the floor in protest to MEPA's original proposal of half an hour.

The document, which was in Italian, had not been made available to the NGOs before the consultation meeting as it was only translated into English two days prior to the meeting. On the other hand, consultants from the Regional Action Centre for Specially Protected Areas were enthusiastic to see the zoning plan phase move on to the implementation stage. This will require stepped up enforcement and dedicated financial support.

Fish for the future

In the past the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) was only interested in resources. Now the commission faces the challenge of ensuring that fish stocks will last into the future.

An exercise in regional co-operation between the eight fishing nations of the Western Mediterranean came to a close last month with the 12th steering committee meeting held in Malta. Funded by the Spanish Government, the COPEMED project began in 1996 and contributed to the working of the GFCM and its scientific advisory committee. The aim was to formulate recommendations and define scientific criteria for better management of exploited resources in the Mediterranean.

At the final meeting Rafael Robles, director of FAO-COPEMED, spoke on the management of shared fishing stocks and the importance of understanding the concepts of capacity and the precautionary approach. There is talk of a restructuring of the GFCM in the air along these lines.

In June the Fisheries Commission is to hold a two-day workshop on illegal, unreported, unregulated fishing in the Mediterranean. The task of regulating Maltese fisheries and aquaculture has been assigned to the Conservation and Control Division within the Department of Fisheries operating from Marsaxlokk.

At a recent talk on food policy given by Dr Tim Lang at the University of Malta, the sustainability of current fish farming practices around the world was brought into question.

Wild stocks are being depleted to feed farmed fish. It takes up to four tons of ocean fish to produce one ton of farmed salmon. Scientists are now investigating a possible solution in the rearing of fish that do not eat other fish but feed on seaweed instead.

PCBs

Printed circuit boards is one possible meaning of the abbreviation PCB. But it was not the one intended in the last "Natural Reaction" column (March 28) which referred to the directive on PCBs.

Polychlorinated biphenyls, commonly known as PCBs, were first used in 1929 as a liquid insulator in heavy duty electrical transformers. In 1966 they were detected in the environment and associated with reduced reproduction in marine birds and mammals. They are also believed to compromise the immune system in humans.

Restrictions on their use were imposed in North America and Europe in the early Seventies but they continue to cause contamination because of their persistence and due to careless disposal of old equipment containing them. Until now we have been tipping this hazardous waste at Maghtab or dumping PCBs illegally where they can infiltrate the environment.

A walk in Argotti

Learn how our national tree, the sandarac gum (gharghar), creates a protective carpet to conserve its water reserve over the summer months. Discover the secret of the oak tree (ballut) with its unique defence against damage from high winds.

Find out what to do in autumn to control the spread of the alien cape sorrel plant (haxixa ngliza). This invasive yellow-flowering alien has invaded our countryside, threatening to replace native species. Removing it in springtime only strengthens its ability to appear with more force the following season.

Tucked in a corner of Floriana between the Scouts Headquarters and the Wignacourt fountain, the botanical section, under the care of curator Joseph Buhagiar, University of Malta, is accessible by appointment only.

Guided tours for schoolchildren on Tuesdays and Fridays during school term can be booked by e-mailing gardens@um.edu.mt for a visit to the enchanting centuries-old collection of Mediterranean species. Intricate mosaic patterns made of red coral, obsidian and shells decorate the interior of the water-lily showcase known as the nymphaem inside the Argotti Botanical Gardens. Donations are needed for the restoration of this unique but endangered fantasy cavern before it collapses.