MEPA 'not doing enough to protect birds'

Environmentalists are slamming the Malta Environment and Planning Authority for labelling the coastal cliffs at Ta' Cenc as an EU Important Bird Area.

Nature Trust president Vince Attard said environmentalists had expected MEPA to name the whole of Ta' Cenc - with its garigue habitat over the plateau - both interesting and important, and not just the cliffs.

MEPA announced on Friday that the area of the cliffs from Tad-Debda and Ta' Cenc (Sannat) up to the area of Ta' l-Ikbiex, qualified as a Level 1 site of Scientific Importance because it harboured a concentration of threatened bird species such as Cory's shearwater, Yelkouan shearwater and the European storm petrel.

"If I am speaking just about birds, the area is a very important feeding and breeding ground for species such as the Short-toed lark, Spectacled warbler, Blue Rock thrush and corn bunting, all of which are protected and which have declined sharply in numbers as breeding birds over the past few years," Mr Attard said.

"We shall be writing to MEPA to express disappointment on the limited extent of the site that has been protected. We are also very worried about the proposed development and the projected golf course.

"It's easy to say the garigue would be untouched. If one isolates it and hems it in between buildings, it is as good as lost," Mr Attard added.

"We strongly feel that MEPA should have scheduled the whole area at Ta' Cenc. It has the requisites of a Natura 2000 site," he argued.

Nature Trust is a partner with the WWF and would be informing them about the matter.

"WWF is currently compiling a list of important sites from accession countries and would be lobbying to get on the protected register those sites which national governments fail to protect," Mr Attard explained.

Nature Trust would also be working with other groups locally, such as Din l-Art Helwa and the GAIA foundation to exert pressure to get the whole of Ta' Cenc protected.

The Ceratonia Foundation and Alternattiva Demokratika's Gozo Regional Committee yesterday held a guided walk at Ta' Cenc and explained to those present the richness in terms of biodiversity and archaeological heritage that make up the area.

AD's Gozo Regional Committee spokesman Victor Galea said Gozitans and Maltese were not in favour of the last few remaining open spaces becoming polluted with buildings, lights and noises at night.

"An open space such as Ta' Cenc gives one time and space to relax and admire the ecological, historical, geological, archaeological and geomorphological beauty. If these spaces are lost, or kept for exclusive individuals then even the foreign visitors will think twice before visiting our island.

"If we keep losing the character of the island, its economy will be the first to suffer. The loss of an area as large as Sliema worries a lot of people in Malta and even more in Gozo," he concluded.

The Sunday Times was later informed that about an hour before the guided walk was under way, the owner of the Ta' Cenc Hotel had put up an iron gate barring access to the area, and two large posters with the words "Private Property - no access to the public".

About 50 of the 300 persons taking part in the walk, however, entered the area despite the protests of the hotel owner, Victor Borg.

AD chairman Harry Vassallo was reported as saying that the erection of the gate was illegal and that he would challenge it in court.