One world... Landscapes

How much of Malta's landscape is legally protected?
At present, 12 per cent of Malta's landscape is legally protected. Malta signed the European Landscape Convention in 2000, but it has not yet ratified it. However, the Landscape Convention's provisions relating to legal recognition, participatory procedures, protective policies, and integrating landscape into land-use planning, are already implemented. In line with the provisions regarding landscape characterisation and monitoring, Mepa has carried out a national landscape assessment study. This mapped out landscape sensitivity areas, of which very high and high landscape sensitivity areas cover 51 per cent of the islands. One of the principal tools for landscape protection is legal designation under the provisions of the Development Planning Act.

Areas of High Landscape Value (AHLVs) were designated in 1996 and 2000, and cover 12 per cent of the territory. There is a certain level of convergence between the findings of the landscape assessment study and AHLVs. However, some important areas of landscape quality, particularly in Gozo and inland Malta have not yet been afforded legal protection.

The State of the Environment Report 2005 is a Mepa publication available on www.mepa.org.mt