Environmental solutions

The prime Minister has already revealed an ability of taking unpalatable decisions. He also ensures that they are carried out. Such decisions clarify and enlarge the image he is gradually building as a leader.

No unsavoury decisions will detract his popularity or lose him electoral votes. On the contrary, sensible people admire strong leadership provided it is ultimately for the good of the country.

Dr Lawrence Gonzi has the potential to extend his electoral mandate. He listens to reason and is conscious of the democratic process. These virtuous qualities are gradually being revealed like, for example, by the recent decision on a new golf course for Malta.

Naturally, Dr Gonzi bases his decision on the economic need of gaining foreign currency from tourism. Let it be so, provided he causes the least harm to the environment. Moreover, as a conscientious leader he cannot allow the desecration of the surrounding area with monstrous high-rise hotels, apartment blocks and other ancillary buildings. Any skilful entrepreneur realises that a golf course on its own is economically viable and produces a substantial profit.

One can take a leaf from the management of the Royal Malta Golf Club (RMGC) in Marsa. Here, the only building is the club house intelligently camouflaged by tall, evergreen trees. It is also embellished by a cascading fountain and beds of geraniums and other flowering shrubs.

Here the enthusiastic coterie of club members and the constant flow of visitors contribute financially so management continues its development and embellishment.

Therefore, genuine entrepreneurs do not need to have the 'get rich quick' mentality. They do not think of recuperating their capital investment by selling hotels or apartment blocks to make enough money to begin the construction of the golf course.

A well-organised and well-managed golf course could be a rich investment in itself. In fact, the 'supply' of visitors to the RMGC has risen to a point where their numbers will soon have to be curtailed. Though most profits are being ploughed back into improvement, renovation and to further development, it has not gone bankrupt. One must not forget that Government has imposed and burdened the club with the payment of a considerable 'fee'.

Any government must understand that any sport organisation helps the nation in the socialisation process. It fulfils the needs of gregariousness. It also provides recreation and therapy, especially in healthy exercise. Therefore such an organisation should be exempt from any form of taxation.

Dr Gonzi's future-looking scheme is to be applauded and approved especially if he fulfils his decision by building golf courses where there are hotels already and where derelict land and dilapidated buildings cry out for development, such as the White Rocks Holiday Complex at Bahar ic-Caghaq. Therefore the qualities of leadership entail a rational appraisal of a project, such as a golf course. It means striking a balance between economic and social needs with special regard and attention to the environment.

Nevertheless, I wish this virtue of carrying out one's decision may be applied to other ministries. In my last letter to The Times, I listed a number of Environment Minister Geoerge Pullicino's own promises in opening the countryside not only to genuine ramblers, addicted hikers and foreign visitors but also to families.

All these people long to escape from the rigours of polluted industrial zones to the open spaces of a healthy countryside. I reminded Mr Pullicino that facta non verba would appease the demands of the public.

But in his recent statements using contrived (manipulated) stylistic devices he seems to prevaricate not to offend any particularly interested bodies, whether ramblers, trappers, hunters or farmers: To use a well-worn cliché, "running with the hares and racing with the hounds" (quite a formidable physical feat) is not the insignia of leadership but of escapism!

Let me be rational, not emotional! Naturally, Mr Pullicino means well: actually, he seems to be driven by the power of his conviction in infusing into Malta a new lease of life.

Being young, he is carried by the force of his indefatigable energy and by a genuine enthusiasm for a better way of life... Perhaps he is infused with the spirit of leaving something behind, that no one will willingly let die. That may be a fanciful concept but it will admittedly be an excellent objective!

At the same time, it is true, that very often Mr Pullicino, being dependent on other ministries, finds himself with his hands tied or shackled in the progress of his decisions.

However, taking the bull by the horns is literally another difficult feat. Yet as a determined leader, he should not allow other authoritarian government bodies to interfere or obstruct what he works so hard for.

If MEPA is his executive hand maid, under his ministerial responsibility, she should not be allowed to procrastinate in carrying out his environmental decisions.

In fact the regiment of clerical employees at St Francis Ravelin should all be trained in practical work as enforcement officers. They should all be sent out to places notorious for illegal structures and other obnoxious eyesores. MEPA need not let the general public go on reconnaissance expeditions. She should shoulder her own accountability in the shortest time possible!

Mr Pullicino, an indefatigable worker, has carried out a number of projects that make his ministry proud. However, unfortunately, he has not set his priorities right. The public is crying out for safe excursions into the countryside: the environmentally conscious NGOs have been clamouring for the traditional right that the countryside should be fully accessible to the public without any fear or frustration.

Yet inconsiderate farmers, egoistic hunters and arrogant bird trappers, as well as domineering entrepreneurs, have taken control of large tracts of public properties. They have been allowed to encroach on public land with impunity.

May I humbly point out another flaw in Mr Pullicino's action plans? His projects must be guided by the wish fulfilment of the people and not by what he thinks the public should have. By setting his priorities in the correct order, he would fulfil all his promises - much to the enjoyment of the people.

By coming down hard on removing illegalities before hatching new schemes, he pleases the masses. By prevaricating he panders to the pockets of errant groups. Yet he must keep in mind that floating voters have one political allegiance that is swayed to right or left by their own selfishness.

Therefore Malta's administration cannot be guided by the whims of individual ministers. It must be wisely directed by the concerted efforts and by the unanimous decisions of all ministries acting in unison on environmental matters. Only in this way could other government departments be encouraged to toe the line and to reinforce the preparatory work of the Ministry of the Environment.

In many instances, the Lands Department often leases out tracts of land to hunters and trappers. If I'm not mistaken, the ground leases are renewed every year. To eradicate the problem of land encroachment, these leases must be stopped and others withdrawn at the lapse of the lease. Thus Cabinet will initiate a beneficial reform that will have benign repercussions in time.

The Lands Department should also begin the lengthy process of research to establish, once and for all, where private property legally begins and ends. I believe much of this mapped work may be found in the archives that the British left during the colonial era. To these were added other stored documents, which the architects and engineers of successive Public Works departments have left for posterity.

Moreover, much property information may be collected from a study of notary deeds. This is truly the work of a lifetime. It is unfortunately so. However, the situation may be gradually ameliorated.

Law students at university may be encouraged to take up this kind of research of particular land areas for writing and compiling their thesis or dissertation.

Whether these ideas of reforming environmental and land matters are really practical or not is a mutable question. The fact remains that my suggestions will involve them in a monumental work that might be beyond their resources. Yet it is essential that Government should initiate plans for redemption.

The undeniable fact remains that everybody should share in the benefits of the land. The general public should have the pleasure of enjoying moments of leisure within healthy and safe surroundings.

Hunters and trappers are entitled to their pastimes provided they are responsible enough to follow and to obey any imposition of rules and regulations.

Above all, the full-time farmers, whose livelihood depends on the fruit of the land, are entitled not merely to lease but to own the land.

All of these interested parties feel the need for protection. Therefore, government must at least start delineating public roads, paths, tracks or routes, especially those leading to any form of national heritage, whether wayside chapels, Punic tombs, Bronze Age villages and so on.

The farmlands also need protection against marauders, petty thieves, trespassers, vandals and even snail collectors! Hence, since farmers' holdings are generally small, they can be easily surrounded and enclosed by rubble walls, thus upholding the traditional Maltese heritage.

Failing this, they can plant fences of olive or other trees or shrubs, held together by wire netting. Marsovin Ltd has done an excellent work in enclosing and embellishing the vineyards along the Xemxija by-pass below Wardija with well-constructed rubble walls.

Hunters and trappers may be allowed to follow their instinctive habits but their pastime should be controlled not only by time but also by place.

They are to limit their activities to the hunting and trapping season. They will not be allowed to roam all over the countryside. On the contrary, they will be allotted specific areas and allowed to trap or hunt only in places like Mizieb, l-Ahrax tal-Mellieha, Xrobb l-Ghagin and others. Needless to say, these places should be kept out of bounds from intruders during the hunting season.

Such division of labour and leisure intelligently partitioned, farmers and bird hunters should lessen, if not eliminate, the constant altercations, frequent bickering and possible accidents. At the same time, the public would be left enough country space where to roam in peace without molestation.

The question arises: must individual ministers condone illegal undertakings for fear of being stung if they disturb these hornets' nests prowling for attacks?

It need not be so. As a matter of fact, it is the Cabinet, as the dominant authoritarian body, that should show a determined leadership to fulfil what the public is clamouring for.

In their feeble efforts to eradicate what is illegal some ministries have delegated power to the general public when in actual fact this responsible role should be burdened on the executive class of civil servants. In other words, the ministries have enlisted the public's co-operation.

By doing so, they have innovated a trend of turning Malta into a nation of spies: they have deliberately made of the public neighbourhood watchers, environmental vigilantes, whistle-blowers of illegal structures, and, to use a wartime phrase, they have enlisted the services of peacetime quislings of what other people do wrong.

The people have been made to memorise a set of telephone numbers and to report to the respective ministries. Lest they forget they had littered the coast roads with huge hoardings that obstructed pleasant sea views, let alone had distracted the attention of the motorists.

Should this be so, when high-ranking civil servants have been enriched with fat salaries not merely to carry out ministerial decisions but also to shoulder accountability? This term unfortunately does not seem to have any significance.

Since the environment in Malta, including the historical and archaeological heritage, seems to be shared by so many authorities, corporations and ministries, it are politically correct that all relevant problems and decisions - respectively discussed and taken up at Cabinet level.

However, to uphold the democratic process Government should not only recognise the sterling work being done by so many environmental NGOs but also regularise their position in the fabric of the political system.

Naturally, Cabinet should also heed the voices of interested bodies whose work and leisure depend on having a share of the land and sea. Quite rightly too, after Cabinet has removed all illegalities, it must engage in a continual reform.

It must also hasten the process of instruction and education to improve people's attitude of the people towards Malta's natural heritage and so eventually restore the deteriorating environment to its previous pristine glory.

Mr Bugeja is vice-president of the Ramblers' Association.