Natural Reaction

At the last roundabout before Mdina, a left turn leads off to Zebbug. The field inside this U-bend at Ta' Srina has been turned into a dump for excavated stone rubble after a large well was illegally constructed without a permit by the Malta Transport Authority. The farmer is fighting to have the field restored to its original state.

The Water Services Corporation confirms that the reservoir which is used for watering the roundabout has been fitted with a metered water mains connection. First-class drinking quality water is being squandered on flowerbeds.

According to WSC, "The meter is installed so that the small reservoir can be filled by mains water. This is the case with all roundabouts that are maintained by the Environmental Landscaping Consortium. The water is being paid for as per tariffs and to the WSC, this is just another account and nothing out of the ordinary."

Clearly there is very little awareness of the need for an integrated approach to water management. What the WSC is saving in leakage repairs it is allowing to go to waste on landscaping which is unsuitable to our climate. The ELC could help save water too if indigenous plants such as cacti and succulents were planted on roundabouts and verges instead of using water-guzzling species.

The road reconstruction was funded by the fifth Italo-Maltese financial protocol and carried out by the Ministry of Urban Development and Roads. The Ministry has put out a leaflet boasting of reservoirs totaling a capacity of 300 m3 which were built along 16.5 km of road works to collect stormwater for irrigation of the landscaped areas. On inspection of the reservoir at Ta' Srina it was noted that a WSC-metered mains connection had been installed. Does this mean that landscaped roundabouts are being irrigated with mains water during the dry periods of summer when the stormwater has been all used up?

Commenting on the reservoirs a water consultant observes that 300m3 is a pittance when one considers that a typical cistern in a household must have a capacity of 60 m3 by law.

"The amount of rain falling on 16.5 km of road (assuming roads are 15 m wide) in a year equates to 150,000 m3 a year; 300 m3 is only 0.2 per cent of the total amount of rainfall falling on these new roads that is being collected. The remaining 149,700 m3 are then allowed to run off to Qormi, Birkirkara or Msida."

Flooding could be prevented by building better storage capacity reservoirs to capture storm waters before they inundate low lying areas. Such a policy would deflect the need for costly tunnels and watercourses while achieving the same effect with less water loss.

Malta's GMO opinion

"Listen to scientific opinions presented by member states as well as the studies selected by enterprises seeking to release genetically modified organisms in Europe".

This is what the Maltese government told the Council of Ministers earlier this month at a session held in Brussels on GMO applications.

The Minister of Environment and Rural Affairs spoke on the need for due attention to the negative effects associated with long-term use of certain genetically modified organisms, problems of co-existence with conventional farming and traceability especially in states with a limited territory such as Malta.

The Maltese government has called for a more transparent system than the one presently in use for authorising GMOs in the European Union.

During an intervention at the Council of Ministers earlier this month Minister Pullicino said that an acceptable balance had to be found between evaluating requests for the introduction of GMOs and public concerns over the health risks that these could cause.

He spoke of the need for a regulatory body to ensure uniformity and consistency during the evaluation process. This was necessary since enterprises submitting applications for the release of GMOs onto the market or into the environment were at liberty to discriminate which studies they would present with their application. While member states are presently given the opportunity to submit their views to the European Food Safety Agency, there was the need for further consideration of the scientific opinions of the competent authorities of member states.

Minister Pullicino insisted that authorisations for GMOs should address all the concerns raised by the member states. He said that today all Maltese potato growers are able to demonstrate their commitment to maintaining consumer confidence in food quality and safety minimising detrimental impact on the environment and nature conservation.

A new report from the European Commission concludes that the development of EU-wide legislation on the co-existence of GM crops with conventional and organic farming does not appear to be justified for the time being. This is because of the EU's limited experience with the cultivation of GM crops. The process of introducing national measures also needs more attention. Before any decision is taken, the Commission is to consult stakeholders. A conference will be held on this issue in Vienna on April 5-6.

Reason not to pollute

Tax as an incentive applied to the economy can bring about changes. Changing ecologically damaging behaviour while saving money is the aim behind economic incentives designed to tax pollution. But eco-taxes, or eco-contributions as they are sometimes called, must be carefully thought out before being applied or they could end up harming the environment which they were meant to protect. Eco-taxes must encourage people to switch from harmful to more positive actions rather than becoming tax evaders.

At a MEPA seminar on the Polluter Pays Principle an assessment of the current state of eco-taxes in Malta was presented.

A number of taxes in place today are resulting in a beneficial effect on the environment even if they were not originally designed with the environment in mind. Other poorly designed taxes which were intended to improve or protect the environment have had the opposite effect.

The seminar was held in collaboration with Green Budget, a non-governmental organisation from Germany which functions as a think tank providing advice on Ecological Fiscal Reform.

Sad is bad

Sorrow will not save our heritage or win our favour. The Environment Minister is "saddened" by the loss of Sliema's architectural heritage and the quality of the architecture that has replaced it. Yet the minister refers us repeatedly to the "planning system able to protect historic houses".

MEPA does indeed hold these powers but was the authority willing to exercise them in the case of the oldest house in Sliema? This characteristic corner of our disappearing urban heritage has gone down before everyone's eyes against the advice of MEPA's own technical experts engaged to ensure that MEPA's powers of protection are able to leap off the paper they are printed on and land safely in the real world.

"Scheduling of buildings and the designation of Urban Conservation Areas are instruments which are regularly used to protect the historic character of our urban cores." The fact is that the Sliema UCA is still not recognised since the Local Plan which proposes it sits on the shelf when it should have been passed through Parliament to be made valid. We have waited far too long and for High Street/Ghar il-Lembi Street it is now too late.

Will the demolition of historically important houses now become the norm? Now that this case has wriggled through the mesh it may be difficult for MEPA to refuse other development permits for building in UCAs since a precedent has been set. It may be especially difficult without endorsing the Local Plan with a parliamentary rubber stamp to bring UCAs into officially recognised being.

To his merit, Minister Pullicino does admit that there are "several instances where I, as well as other members of the government, disagree with the decisions taken by the Appeals Board as well as decisions taken by MEPA." With this statement the minister appears to recognise that there are far too many reversals of permits initially refused by this Development Control Board by the appeals board which is independent of MEPA. Is the board also independent of MEPA policies to stop our environment from being destroyed?

Earlier this year the Environ-ment Minister gave his view on the sanctioning of illegal developments, saying that this practice had to end. Yet applications to sanction continue to flow in without abatement. The latest of these is a villa built illegally at Bidnija. The deadline for objectors to submit their representations expires today.

The deadline also closes today for submissions on two permit applications outside the prescribed development zone as designated by MEPA. These developments threaten the hamlet of Bahrija and an open field outside the Mosta urban demarcation.

One of the representations submitted to MEPA within the 15-day window for objections to the giant "tent" at Ta' Qali came from the Xara Palace Hotel's Susan Zammit Tabona, who objected to temporary or permanent structures for housing a trade fair or conferences below Mdina. The reason given for this objection:

"Tourists come to the Mdina Bastions to see Malta as it once was - unspoilt and therefore MEPA has a duty to protect this."

The responsibility falls on citizens and local councils to object. If MEPA does not receive any objections within 15 days of the development application being posted then the developers are rubbing their hands in delight. It appears that there is little MEPA can do to apply its own policies once this window is closed.

So rather than wait for the bulldozers, log on to the MEPA Website once a week, check applications received and file your complaint quoting structure plan policies (downloadable from the MEPA website). Off its own bat MEPA cannot be trusted in each and every case to stop development which threatens the environment. Intervention is needed. Everyone can help.

Gozo gets angry

AD GOZO has launched a petition to Europe over the highly disputed proposal to develop a golf course complex on the island.

The petition to the EU Commission says that the project will result in the irrevocable destruction of garigue habitat of high ecological significance where endemic floral species, listed in the Red Data Book, will be gravely endangered.

Lesley Gail Kreupl from Gharb explains how she was approached by the owner of Ta' Cenc Hotel after she wrote to The Times (March 20, "Declare Ta' Cenc a national reserve"). View the interview on video or listen to it on Podcast at www.adgozo.com where one can also find the petition to the EU Commission on the Ta' Cenc golf course proposal.

razammit@hotmail.com