All in a year's work

One year ago today, on the first day of January 2005, the Environment Minister started off the year on an alarming note:

"Unless we kill the use of plastic bags they will kill us. Plastic bags which ended up in waste dumps let off harmful dioxin emission which could end up in the food chain".

A 6c eco-tax was slapped on plastic bags. There followed a stampede of housewives snapping up free shopping bags duly distributed by the Environment Ministry to a number of points of sale. The cloth bags were in vogue for a month or two. Supermarkets put a 10c charge on plastic bags to encourage their use and discourage people from using plastic bags.

Today, a year later, you would never know this initiative had taken place. The hessian bags supplied by WasteServ and the ministry seem to have been relegated to storing winter bedspreads by the housewives. Supermarkets became sheepish about charging for plastic bags. They began undercutting each other until the charge fizzled out completely. As another January rolls by we are up to our necks in plastic bags once more.

Just before Christmas the advent of a recycling venture was heralded. WasteServ is to get socially challenged individuals to make our discards saleable again, creating jobs and helping the environment. May the initiative prosper to outlive the year.

We do not always find what we hoped for under the Christmas tree. The present of my choice, had WasteServ been up to it, would have been curbside collection as hinted at in the Waste Management Strategy, but like St Nicholas and his elves, unseen.

On the second day of January 2005, we were regaled by a Transport Ministry announcement that Government was in talks with the Public Transport Authority for buses to be fitted with an auto-locator which would enable people waiting for a bus to know when it might arrive at their bus stop. The Malta Transport Authority said it had commissioned foreign experts to draw up a report on the size of the bus fleet, routes and infrastructure such as bus termini. Nothing more was heard throughout the year.

This time last year the declared aim for 2005 was to carry out an energy audit on at least one ministry. The Ministry for Public Investments' new corporate social responsibility guidelines were to include "new standards for public entities to waste less, recycle waste, consume less water and energy and contribute towards the environment of the localities where they operate if their activity has an environmental price".

Then Minister Gatt tossed the ball back into Minister Pullicino's court, calling for the Environment Ministry to be given "the necessary clout" to run a programme to reduce use of energy in the public sector.

Spring and autumn headlines

The year was peppered with birdkill headlines: hunters are endangering the concession they have to shoot in spring. Malta failed to designate all its International Bird Areas as Specially Protected Areas under the EU Birds Directive. Malta issued new trapping licences when it promised EU it would not. Government announced changes to hunting and trapping regulations to bring Malta more in line with EU rules.

"A positive step but not entirely sufficient" remarked the EU Commission in reply. No reinforcements for ALE Malta. ALE Gozo not operative. EU may curb Spring hunting. European Commission not convinced derogation is being implemented. Minister Pullicino's decision to take on spring trapping is a courageous one... it will mean that the countryside will be rid of over 4,500 trapping sites.

Highs, lows and points to watch

ADT emission alert, Dwejra Marine Conservation Area, arson attacks at landfills, yacht marina proposal at Xemxija, land reclamation off Maghtab and Xghajra, demolition of the Duke of Edinburgh Hotel, exhumation of Gozo airstrip.

The MEPA Website, while lacking in other areas, is up-to-date when it comes to making environmental legislation available to the public. Both the Department of Information and the Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs need to make all legal notices available online. The public has a right to access this basic information at source.

A 2003 draft legislation for the Strategic Environmental Assessment directive to become Maltese law has not yet seen the light of day. It is possible that implementation of SEA would throw a serious spanner in the works of the Xaghra l-Hamra golf course proposal.

Promise of the year

Cut this out, stick it on your fridge and hark back to it at every bend in the road this coming year:

"The government intends to wage war on buildings outside development zones early in 2006 with tougher regulations and better enforcement. The enforcement unit needs to have larger administrative capacity and act in co-ordination with the police to reopen access to public land where it has been shut off " Minister George Pullicino, November 15, 2005.

Earlier this year the Ramblers Association claimed that the drop in tourism was linked to the closure of countryside pathways. Malta is the only EU country that lacks legislation dealing with accessibility to the countryside. While protesting that it is not responsible, the Environment Ministry has pledged it will take steps to keep Malta's footpaths open.

Another admonition came from Nature Trust calling on MEPA's Development Control Commission to toughen up on Outside Development Zone applications being resubmitted after refusal. Before the year was out the Environment Minister hinted that the practice of sanctioning was to come to an end.

Planning seems to have been stood on its head following an "unbelievable political decision" for trade permits to be issued without prior scrutiny. A short circuit bypassing checks and balances, this practice allows an apparently untouchable Appeals Board to give the green light for a permit which has already been refused by the Development Control Commission.

Natura 2000 for Ta' Cenc?

Last February MEPA promised to add Ta' Cenc to the list of Natura 2000 sites once the scheduling of the coastal cliffs was complete. The past year saw the cliff face finally scheduled in August. The Christmas season just past was marked by the stealthy appearance of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) at Sannat council for public viewing.

Thanks to AD Greens, the public has been alerted and urged to comment at the crucial review stage for the EIS of this massive tourist project (20 football pitches) proposed for much of the remaining area at Ta' Cenc. Objections must be filed with the Sannat council by Friday.

One of the aims of the UNEP Mediterranean Action Plan is to expand biodiversity protection under the SAP BIO programme. Ta' Cenc would be an excellent place to start. What is Malta doing toward the EU target to halt biodiversity loss by 2010? Doubts have been raised over whether the area would be open to all since the EIS makes reference to restricted access.

At another proposed Natura 2000 site in Salina, unpermitted dredging commissioned by the Ministry for Infrastructure had to be halted by MEPA enforcement officers last May. Nature Trust alerted the enforcement team and reported the incident to the EU. Happily, later in the year we heard of another Natura 2000 candidate, Wied Moqbol, that was saved when an application to extend a quarry's operations into the valley was turned down.

The Prime Minister chose the feast of Mnarja (June 29) to drop the environmental clanger of the year with his pre-EIA declaration of the decision to site a golf course at Ix-Xaghra l-Hamra. Din l-Art Helwa immediately expressed concern that the area is of very high scenic value, an important garigue area and one of the last open spaces.

BirdLife said the project risks opening up the west of Malta to unprecedented development and urged Government to "upgrade existing charms rather than copy and paste from other Mediterranean destinations." The GRTU volunteered that a golf course would bring "new opportunities for business".

Graver worries surfaced later in the year when it was established that the underwater aquifer water reserve could risk damage from such a project in breach of the EU Water Framework Directive. In August 30 farmers filed a protest. MEPA came up with the rather lame plea that "The area consists of degraded agricultural land and garigue so utilising it for a golf course would avoid using fertile agricultural land somewhere else."

After a summer of public discontent, the Prime Minister appeared to be shamed into backing down. By November Dr Gonzi had regulated his tone somewhat: "Government wants to improve the tourism product but is not prepared to do so at all costs. We do want to see another golf course but we don't want to see another tourist village".

Dare we hope that this latest outlook will hold strong in the face of development pressures at Ta' Cenc? The orchids will still be blooming at Ix-Xaghra l-Hamra this April with any luck. Happy New Year.

Prize quotes

"The shooting stopped when the EU hunting monitoring team was in Malta. But I can tell you it resumed the moment they were back on the plane to Brussels." Salina resident

"Whether the land is a garden in a village core or in the open countryside the developer makes it his business to get a permit." Martin Galea - Din l-Art Helwa

"The tourists are voting with their feet and not returning" Christopher Gray St Paul's Bay on hunting and litter

"I am all for colour and beauty but not for senseless, harmful, barbaric bangs." Albert G. Storace on festa fireworks

"Japan gets all the nice sushi and we get all the smells and rubbish" William Camilleri, Mellieha, on fish farms

"Putting it underground would simply create a haven of crime and squalor." Jane Fannon, UK, on the new Valletta bus terminus

"Replacing Ix-Xaghra l-Hamra with a golf course would be like knocking down St John's Co-Cathedral and replacing it with a McDonalds." Steven Perry, Qawra

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