Editorial

In the late Middle Ages, the Maltese were very conscious of their rights to use common land and were continuously on their guard not to lose this privilege to anyone. When, in 1492, many "public ways" were illegally privatised, expropriated and enclosed, strong representations were made to His Majesty in Palermo, and "the King's horses and the King's men did manage to put the country together again".

Over 500 years have passed and today the unauthorised dispossession of land has reached alarming proportions as huge tracts of public lands are irretrievably taken away by unscrupulous persons intent on grabbing land that does not belong to them.

Unlike our redoubtable ancestors - poor illiterate cave-dwellers but steadfast for their rights - a bewildered nation supposedly fortified and protected by prohibitive state institutions like the Malta Environment and Planning Authority and the Lands Department, is impotently witnessing the same phenomenon but without the will and determination of "the King's men".

Pathways until recently accessible to the public have been arbitrarily usurped, depriving hikers, ramblers and the casual walker of the benefits of outdoor pursuits.

But the real irony is that the drive by honest and well-meaning citizens to recover that which is lost threatens that which still survives, as the plethora of recent reports of unauthorised possession amply demonstrates.

There are good reasons for concern as no political party or personality has come forward to identify itself and articulate, even discreetly, the frustrations of all nature lovers in their quest for a better quality of life.

Inevitably the ramblers' outrage is directed against the fact of ownership because the land that constitutes most of our countryside is a legal entity; it is property with ownership allocated to persons, institutions or farmers. The result is a social friction between owner and users which all civilised countries have resolved by enacting laws of right of way for all.

It is pertinent to recall that in the early 1990s the Association of Hunters, Trappers and Conservationists were championed by both political parties and huge stretches of public lands in the north of Malta were contractually passed on to the association, with a substantial monetary contribution from the state coffers added for good measure.

With the setting up of Mepa, the aspirations of hikers and ramblers were raised only to be shattered by sickening bureaucracy and frozen in the ice of indifference.

A decade ago the then Planning Authority earned an accolade from all nature lovers for completing a comprehensive inventory of the Victoria Lines, those lines of fortifications that stretch from Madliena to Fomm ir-Rih, with photographs, descriptions, historical data and orientation. This was done before the opening of the first part of a long distance walkway along these fortifications, which however has not been finalised and the Victoria Lines are encroached upon with impunity.

Compulsive hikers and ramblers would welcome the issue by Mepa or the Lands Department of a definitive map of public paths in the Maltese islands as well as the restoration to public use of all the land that has been illegally appropriated.