Nature Trust, FAA and Dwejra (1)

I feel I must reply to Victor Laiviera's unfair comments (February 22) on Vince Attard, president of Nature Trust. Mr Laiviera is quick to attack Mr Attard on a number of issues including the apparent silence of Nature Trust and indeed all NGOs "who seem to have drawn in their horns and are ready to abandon their mission because of their political leanings...and become a joke", as well as because of his decision as a board member to condone the illegal boathouses at Dwejra.

I would wish to assure Mr Laiviera that all the major NGOs support Mr Attard, and fully appreciate the work he has done for the environment these last 25 years. Nature Trust is a well respected organisation, and with Mr Attard as its president for a number of years now, it has campaigned apolitically on many hot issues. It has a number of projects such as the afforestation of Wied Għollieqa and SCSC, Simar Nature Reserve, as well as the turtle rehabilitation centre, to name some. It also has an education programme that has reached thousands of schoolchildren over the years. This is mainly a voluntary organisation and Mr Attard was a volunteer for many years. I think it most unfair that Mr Laiviera has chosen to attack him personally in the face of all he has done. I can speak for Din l-Art Ħelwa, that we hold him in high esteem. I have no doubt that other NGOs who have all worked closely with him have the same opinion.

Regarding Dwejra, the issue is controversial. Mr Attard has managed to negotiate the founding of a Nature Park in an area which was severely degraded, over run by hunters, had significant illegal building, and ever encroaching quarries. He had to negotiate with several stakeholders with competing interests and also secure significant EU funding. He did manage to do this but had to break some eggs in the process.

Mr Laiviera may have done it some other way, but he wasn't there. It was Nature Trust who managed to do this. It was a difficult decision, it was perhaps controversial and one may criticise it but he did come away from the table with a huge area which is now to be properly protected. However, above all he acted in good faith and in what he saw was the best interest of the environment.

As regards the attack on all the other NGOs, Mr Laiviera should know that we have all been highly critical of each administration, and our lobbying has put to a stop many high profile projects. We have also lobbied for changes in the way Mepa operates, with some success, filed technical objections on many applications not in the public eye, as well as worked on tangible restoration and conservation projects. If we have been less vociferous in the run-up to the election - a five-week period - it is precisely because we do not want to endorse one party or another. Our members come from all sides of the political spectrum and they do not want us to lean to one side or the other. However our track record speaks for itself. The environmental NGOs in Malta are apolitical, they work and co-operate together, and they do so with a single aim - the protection of our natural and cultural heritage.