Updated: NGOs criticise relocation of caravans. Lands Dept says move is temporary

Din l-Art Helwa, BirdLife Malta and Nature Trust Malta have expressed 'outrage' at the relocation of caravans in Mellieha to the Foresta 2000 protected site over the weekend.

However, a spokesman for the Lands Departent told timesofmalta.com that this was not a Natura 2000 site and the caravans will only be on the new site till the end of summer.

The NGOs said a number of trees were cut down by the contractor brought in by the Mellieha council, who facilitated the moving of the caravans to the Foresta 2000 project site. A rubble wall was also damaged in the process.

But Mellieha mayor Robert Cutajar said that the trees which had been cut down were Acacia and they were not protected. He said that even the park ranger had agreed with the decision to chop them down. Mr Cutajar said he sent people to repair the rubble wall.

The NGOs said the caravans were part of a larger group that were evicted from an area they had been illegally occupying adjacent to the Mellieha Bay Hotel on June 30.

The NGOs feared that more caravans would move in and increase disturbance in the protected site. They said that although they contacted Rural Affairs Minister George Pullicino about the situation, the minister had not yet replied.

“It is outrageous that these caravans have simply been relocated into a protected site, in a move apparently facilitated by the Mellieha local council. We are tired of the authorities simply shuffling problems around from one site to another without taking the time to solve the issues in the first place,” the NGOs said.

The Foresta 2000 afforestation project is managed by the PARKS department of the Ministry for Rural Affairs and Resources, BirdLife Malta and Din l-Art Helwa.

Thousands of native and endemic trees and shrubs have been planted and rubble walls have been repaired at the site since the project’s inception, with the aim of re-creating a Mediterranean woodland. The site is also protected as a bird sanctuary and is given international protection as a Natura 2000 site under the EU nature conservation directives.

“We all know what happens when caravans move to a new site - before long they are occupying the land permanently, building illegal structures and causing damage to the surrounding areas. This situation has repeated itself over and over again, and we refuse to allow this to happen at Foresta 2000,” they charged.

The NGOs also highlighted a recent application to build a caravan site inside Majjistral National Park, a move which Din l-Art Helwa and Nature Trust Malta have already lodged an objection to.

They urged the government to start taking the issue of nature protection and the environment seriously, and not to simply push their problems on to protected areas.