Malta has become inured to the curse of creeping urban development that has destroyed so much of its natural landscapes and environment. The major threat to the island’s biodiversity during the past 50 years has stemmed from uncontrolled construction. Today it faces a new challenge: invasive alien plants brought in from another continent.
Alfred Baldacchino, a biodiversity expert, has drawn attention to the presence of a plant, the so-called Showy Balloon Vine or Love in a Puff, which, despite its exotic name, is slowly choking the flora of Wied Babu in Żurrieq, one of Malta’s protected Natura 2000 sites.
He described the biodiversity there as “under great negative impact” as a result of this alien plant threatening carob trees, Mediterranean heather and brambles at the mouth of the valley and “rapidly advancing... destroying everything in its wake” to the opposite end of the valley, which had one of the richest environments for indigenous flora.
The plant originates from the tropical regions of the Americas. But it has been introduced as an ornamental plant elsewhere in the world with devastating effects on indigenous native species. It has been listed as a ‘noxious weed’ in South Africa, Australia, the United States and New Zealand. Its invasiveness is so acute that it has been added to the European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organisation Alert List.
Malta has signed up to the international Convention on Biological Diversity and the EU environmental acquis, which has been transposed into its legislation obliging it to tackle invasive species.
Indeed, both the National Environment Policy and Mepa’s new guidelines for the management of invasive plants have been published but with little apparent tangible effect on the ground.
The threat is not confined to the Natura 2000 site at Wied Babu alone but appears to be spreading elsewhere too. It has been reported that the vine is growing on trees along Valley Road, in Birkirkara. If it finds its way there, the chances may well be that it is in danger of establishing itself elsewhere on these islands with equally devastating results.
The question is not what should be done but what realistically can be done? Although, like so much else in the environmental field in Malta, the rules have been laid down, the international conventions signed and transposed into local law and the policies publicised, no enforcement or monitoring of the situation has apparently occurred.
While it would be difficult, though not impossible, to impose restrictions on what plants or garden seeds can be imported into Malta – on the lines so rigidly enforced in Australia, for example – it should surely at least be possible to monitor the effects of such invasive plants on the ground and to take timely action to deal with them.
Manpower should be made available to stop the plants from spreading triffid-like throughout the remaining precious biodiversity areas of Malta. The best method of control is to weed them before they have seeded in order to reduce their dispersal. A team capable of uprooting seedlings and destroying established plants is urgently needed.
This done, regular and consistent follow-up action to monitor all areas susceptible to alien species should be introduced. This is not a high-tech challenge but one which should be within the Environmental Directorate’s capacity, supported, if need, be by the voluntary resources of environmental organisations. However, the need for action has now become urgent.