Environmental NGOs want real results (2)

Alan Deidun told us how he expected environmental NGOs to support the government on groundwater protection.

He said NGOs were currently keeping "a deafening silence". They should "strongly condemn GRTU's shortsighted lament" against the proposed measures to curtail illegal groundwater extraction and should "invest time and effort in lobbying the government not to cave in to GRTU's demands".

A comment on the piece, to the effect that Dr Deidun, having recently taken political sides, was hardly in a position to tell NGOs who and what to support, brought forth the old chestnut that NGOs were quite wrong to argue that environmental matters should be kept free of politics - incidentally a view much supported by Dr Deidun himself before he saw the political light on the road to Brussels.

No one in their right senses would argue that 'the environment' should, indeed can, be kept free of politics. But there is a palpable difference between politics in general and party politics in particular, and a rather wide gulf between politics and the partisan party politics practised here.

Perhaps Dr Deidun can have a look at the recent Malta Environment and Planning Authority board vote on the application for the Balzan Main Street development: that gives a good indication of how consistently politicians behave.

In fact, Dr Deidun seems to be suffering from a bout of high inflation, a condition known to afflict politicians. In a long comment on Dr Deidun's piece, Marco Cremona pointed out that so far around 30 borehole meters have been installed; this leaves only another 8,500 boreholes to be similarly equipped.

NGOs would be too exhausted by the time any real result was achieved were they to start just clapping now, never mind putting their shoulder to the water wheel.

Nor is there much substance in Mr Cremona's snigger that NGOs are generally interested in attention-catching trivialities rather than in 'serious' issues, most particularly when that remark is followed by the assertion that Vince Farrugia is bound to defend his (GRTU) members. What? Even when they are breaking the law and robbing us blind?

In case anyone labours under the illusion that NGOs are a johnny-come-lately on this matter, it can be pointed out that in 1997, Moviment għall-Ambjent - Friends of the Earth (Malta) published a study called 'Sustainable Malta' (as part of 'Sustainable Europe').

In the section on water, the first two recommendations were: (a) enforcement of protective measures against contamination of the aquifers; (b) closer monitoring of private boreholes to enforce limits on water extraction and a clampdown on illegal extraction. Neither of these measures found any favour with the politicians; so we lost the perched aquifer to nitrate contamination and have heavily damaged the mean sea-level aquifer.

It is indeed a pity that in the circumstances Dr Deidun has chosen to attack his environmental allies, preferring to shed tears over the "real difficulty faced by politicians out there to introduce tough environmental legislation" - which in this case means enforcing the law. Surely these sorrows are as nothing compared with those of NGOs in the face of the various doings of politicians like 'rationalisation', the Baħrija build; the Armier shanties, etc.

Dr Deidun did not even have the decency to suggest a quid pro quo: support on groundwater in return for finding the missing Mepa Baħrija files or even a few Armier caravans taken out. However, this will not prevent NGOs or individual environmentalists from continuing to speak their mind on groundwater extraction and other matters.

The timing and the tunes, however, will be their own.