Malta’s fast diminishing natural landscape received a welcome boost when, earlier this month, an application for the rehabilitation of a quarry and the building of a retirement home in Wied Għomor was rejected by the Planning Authority. It was seen by many as “the first win” by the environment over bulldozer development.
Yet, a week later, all who care about one of the most beautiful areas in Gozo, must have felt deeply unsettled by a report about Dwejra. The management board that had been set up to safeguard the area, had been dismantled, with the last meeting taking place 36 months ago.
Dwejra is an area of outstanding natural beauty, rich in history, topography, geology and ecology. At the entrance to this rocky semi-circular shaped bay stands the massive Fungus Rock. It also includes the crater-like depression, caused by the collapse of the roof of a large subterranean cave, now a landlocked fishermen’s harbour known as the Inland Sea, with the sea entering through a natural tunnel lying under 50 metres of rock. Just a short walk away is the iconic rock formation known as the Azure Window, forming an archway over the sea.
This is an area whose features have been formed by millions of years of natural evolution, rich in fossils and endangered endemic species. A 17th century watchtower built by the Knights stands sentinel over it.
When the management board was set up, under the watchful eye of Nature Trust, one of Malta’s leading environmental organisations that was represented on the board, hopes were high that the outstanding features of the whole area would be protected from the 750,000 visitors that go there each year.
The aim was to manage Dwejra as one unified entity, bringing together the demands of tourism, the natural environment, history and ecology in one balanced whole.
But this was not to be. Approval of a building permit by the then planning authority in 2010 for a so-called visitors’ and interpretation centre proved to be no more than an excuse for the erection of a restaurant in the area. Nature Trust rightly withdrew from the board.
This was a typical example of the vulnerability to which the area has been exposed. A film company was allowed to lay ‘sand’ near the Azure Window, causing grave damage to the ecology. It has even been reported that the Planning Authority recently initiated investigations into the possibility that explosives were used to widen the natural tunnel leading to the Inland Sea.
It is this kind of mindless and barbarous approach to the area – which is clearly viewed by some in the tourism industry as yet another money-generating milch cow – which underlines the irresponsibility of not nominating a management board for the last three years. The newly-established Environment and Resources Authority should act swiftly with the newly-appointed Environment Minister to appoint a new board.
This board’s terms of reference should be based on the management plan that, apparently, is being devised. It should make clear their responsibility to be the guardians of the ‘Dwejra Heritage Park’, bringing together the unique character and needs of the landscape, the rare geological features and important biodiversity and cultural heritage of the area.
Its major task will be to find the right balance between several economic activities that affect the area - agriculture, fishing, diving and other tourist-related activities – with the overriding imperative of protecting the integrity of the landscape.