At the stroke of a pen

Democracy suffered a blow this month. A group of Sannat residents were forced to meet in a garage after a public meeting they had organised at the local school was forbidden by high authority in Gozo. Strategies to bulldoze massive projects through the planning net never cease to abound.

This is not the first time I have seen a wandering from the original directive when transcribed into Maltese law. It happened with the Aarhus Directive concerning the public's right to environmental information. I was concerned enough to write to the monitoring board of the Aarhus Convention in Geneva. Meanwhile, the local notice was amended.

One of the final legal notices to be drawn up last year is LN 418 on Strategic Environmental Assessment, turning another EU directive into local law. The transposition of the SEA directive into local legislation was spurred on after a warning from the Commission.

All plans and programmes which set a framework for future development consent of projects must be assessed for their impact on the environment, according to this directive.

The SEA directive would have applied to policy on golf courses had the wording of the local law appears not circumvented all that. The local legislation restricts the directive to a tight timeframe:

"These regulations shall apply to the plans and programmes of which the first formal preparatory act was subsequent to July 21, 2004." An implementation report is due exactly two years from that date. MEPA is presently working on a draft guidance document for the implementation of SEA.

The present application to develop 67 villas and two hotels at Ta' Cenc under the guise of a "heritage park" plus future golf course first appeared as a planning application filed with MEPA in 1996. A MEPA policy paper on golf course development at Ta' Cenc issued the following year states: "It is not recommended to include as part of the golf course development any development in the form of residential or hotel accommodation."

The MEPA policy paper adds that, should such a development be proposed, it must be located within development zone boundaries. The paper is adamant that only a country club, which must not include any accommodation, would be permitted outside the development zone.

At some point the developer behind the Ta' Cenc proposal appears to have chosen to approach the whole thing backwards, so to speak. Instead of a golf course with development he would first apply for the development, then think about attaching the golf course later.

The plan to develop golf courses, which will leave a serious impact on a European water resource, the Maltese aquifer, should undergo strategic environment assessment. Failing that, how about sticking to our own planning guidelines and policies which rule out golf courses instead of drawing up yet another paper report for the EU while transposing environmental directives in a way which is sure to delight the destroyers of our environment?

Take the wolf

Large or small, living organisms of many different colours and traits make up the fabric of life on Earth. Human beings often forget that they are a part of this weave. A dominant thread in the tapestry, we may not fully recognise how much our quality of life depends on a healthy eco-system, biologically diverse and teeming with life of all sorts.

Preserving the widest possible range of our naturally occurring plants, insects, marine life, birds and small mammals is nothing less than critical if we want to live sustainably. A commitment was made by heads of government at a European Council meeting held in 2001 to protect the spread of different species in Europe. Biodiversity is the rich spectrum of flora and fauna which makes a place unique or special.

Forests, seas and other ecosystems can go into decline when key vegetation or creatures, which have been supporting those systems, are eliminated. Scientists know comparatively little about the interdependence of species and their habitat. Each keeps the other alive. Take the wolf. Forests went into decline wherever man hunted down the wolves. In the absence of predators, deer change their behaviour, lowering their heads to graze when there is no longer the need to keep a constant lookout. Tender young trees at ground level do not have a chance.

When wolves, the natural predator of the deer, are sharing their habitat, the deer keep their heads high when feeding. They pass over the vulnerable tree shoots, eating bark and leaves from fully grown trees at eye level while alert to any predators as they eat.

Vote for nature

Tick the box to save Malta's wildflowers by visiting www.eurosite-nature.org EC Consultation on Biodiversity or go to the link (http://europa.eu.int/yourvoice/ipm/forms/dispatch?form=BIODIVERSITY). The consultation is open to both the public and experts on biodiversity and nature conservation. The closing date is February 6.

A mention of any case studies which demonstrate the value of biodiversity and ecosystems may also be included in the e-mail submission. While filling in the questionnaire strong support should be given to this statement: "Particular attention should be paid to the overseas countries and territories of the member states which together hold more species than their European territories."

This is a direct reflection of how important our island species are to the wealth of European nature. Islands are home to an extraordinary number of endemic species per unit of surface area. This richness finds its counterpart in its fragility. The size of small islands reduces their carrying capacity. Island biodiversity will be a new issue up for consideration at the next meeting of the parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity.

Europe has set a target to stop the decline of European biodiversity within the next five years. In Malta 23 sites plus coastal cliffs have been submitted to the Natura 2000 network. (There seems to be no other reason but weakness in the face of development pressures for the removal of Ta' Cenc as a candidate to the network of protected sites.)

At a meeting on the Natura 2000 network held in 2004 Minister George Pullicino admitted to the Council of Ministers that Malta's coverage of sites was at the time "incomplete". He referred to the need to further protect coastal cliffs and pre-desert scrub while calling for "unfragmented funding" under a future LIFE+ programme. But Malta's bid for LIFE funding failed again last year.

The latest Natura 2000 newsletter records Malta's progress in the country barometer as still "notably insufficient" on six Special Protection Areas: Buskett, White Tower Bay, Comino, Filfla, Ghadira and Is-Simar. Maps of these protection status areas can be viewed on the MEPA Website (Environment-Natura 2000). At White Tower Bay the protected area extends as far as the coastline of Mellieha Bay. The Simar protected area extends well beyond the bird reserve up onto the Mistra ridge. The Ghadira SPA runs nearly coast to coast stopping short of Ic-Cumnija. Nature Trust has called for high fines for dumping within these areas.

If the EU is to meet its obligations towards meeting the 2010 target it must integrate support for biodiversity into economic and development assistance. The European Commission has set out its approach to the next financial period with the view that future rural development policy after 2006 should be built around enhancing the environment and countryside through support for land management, including the co-financing of rural development actions related to Natura 2000 nature protection sites.

The Habitats Directive recognises the need to support management of Natura 2000 in exceptional cases, through co-financing by Community financial instruments, in case of the excessive financial burden that Natura 2000 might place on member states, particularly those with a higher concentration of species and habitats of community interest such as found on islands due to their isolation.

Last October the European Commission issued a contract to World WildLife Fund and the Institute for European Environment Protection to advise and support nature authorities in Member States on the use of new opportunities for Natura 2000 under Rural Development and other EU funds in the financing period 2007-13. Detailed guidance on how to obtain EU funds to support the Natura 2000 network are to be given in workshops in each of the 25 member states.

razammit@hotmail.com