Most of us associate sand with our earliest memories as builders, all budding architects armed with our buckets and spades, each trying to be the first to ever succeed in digging that all important trench or hole for our moats that will withstand the tests of time, even if just for a day, against the onslaught of the water.

At that tender age, we soon came to realise that no castle we ever attempted to construct on sand would last long enough to enjoy for more than those happy fleeting moments we still treasure to this day. It served as an important part of our growing up.

Yet remarkably some castles built on sand have defied the years and even the laws of both nature and man, and there seems like no better example of this than the structures erected on the dunes of gold at Golden Sands. Now unlike the sand we used to play with, or lie on to rest our weary limbs and souls from a week of woe, dunes, though made of the very same stuff, are seen throughout the world as amazing bio spheres with outstanding qualities and flora. Suffice it to say that they house rare plants not found anywhere else, making them rather unique habitats.

This is no coincidence. The plants found there are somewhat like the Inuit in reverse, otherwise known as Eskimos, who have adapted to survive in the harshest of climatic conditions. Now imagine you were a humble plant, with your brethren all comfy and cosy laying down their roots in some moist soil full of rich nutrients, and getting showered by fresh rain. But you in turn had it cut out for you a little different. Instead of showers of rain you got showers of sea spray laden with salt, and showers of sand, waged in what seemed like a perpetual war trying to bury you, so that you had to work tirelessly to keep your head above the sand, literally.

It was not as though you were compensated by extra yummie nutrients in the soil, for hey, the sand’s food supply comes up short even in that department. And forget trying to retain water. We all know what happens with that effort, right, when as kids we tried filling up that sand hole making a human kid chain from the seashore using our friends with buckets as cheap labour, after having converted them to your cause, ordering them to move faster in a race against time, to try and fill up your sandy hole like a well before finally becoming king of your castle?

So it is no wonder that sand dunes are highly protected and valued the world over, even along shores like Florida which go on and on for kilometres, with a much less exciting grey sand and an almost total monoculture of dune plants.

Golden Sands is a magnificent beach, that could be returned to its former glory if its dunes were truly treated as a level one protected area

So how is it, you may ask, that a structure that operates as Munchies Restaurant has survived so many years on the Golden Sands dunes, one of the very few dune systems left on the mainland? Is it fully covered with permits from the Land Department? What about planning permits in a scheduled “level one” area that by its very definition, forbids such developments? Then there are the commercial permits. Oh, and have I mentioned the permits required to establish a parking area around the dunes, as well as permits to use a vehicle to drive on the dunes to carry supplies? Anyone involved in setting up a restaurant knows the huge obstacle course that one is required to cross in order to get there. So how is all this possible on a “level one” site owned by the State? How, indeed?

On another count, the prestige that the coveted Blue Flag brings grows by the year. The Maltese Islands are proud to have made great strides forward here with the continued efforts of the tourism authorities, and also with specific efforts by Gaia in the beaches under its management at Għajn Tuffieħa and Ramla in Gozo. Travelling abroad one could see huge signs posted up on the road as one approaches a beach area, with the logo and words “Blue Flag Zone” proudly on display. It is like a hotel displaying its five stars at its entrance.

Golden Sands is a magnificent beach, that could be returned to its former glory if its dunes were truly treated as a level one protected area, yet failing this, its chances of ever obtaining a blue flag to fly are no greater than the proverbial snowball in hell.

The time of taking the bull by the horns and sorting out this sand dune mess has long since come, but thankfully has not yet gone. To quote former President and Nobel Peace Laureate Mikael Gorbachev, who took the bull by the horns more than any man alive today, and changed the political landscape overnight, “if not now, when?”

Surely such a relatively minor step can be boldly taken. The dunes of gold deserve it. We must remember that we are here as guardians of the earth, not to exploit it. Let us act that way in the common good, and act now.

Rodolfo Ragonesi is executive director of the Gaia Foundation.