A recently published report on the poor state of Malta’s woodlands only reaffirmed what environment lobbies had been saying for years, according to the former assistant director of the environment directorate.

Alfred Baldacchino, a senior environmentalist, told the Times of Malta that he was far from surprised by the findings of a report published on Tuesday, which found that Malta had failed to coordinate afforestation efforts or to implement large-scale ecological restoration projects.

“Of course I completely agree with the report; it was conducted in a very professional manner and it proves right the many voices which have long been calling for improvements to the situation,” Dr Baldacchino said.

The 50-page document, compiled by leading ecology experts Louis Cassar and Elisabeth Conrad, slammed successive administrations for failing to implement large-scale ecological restoration projects.

The report, which is ultimately aimed at shoring up Malta’s tepid afforestation initiatives, says that despite a series of afforestation initiatives over the years, extending wooded area coverage in a coordinated and systematic manner had not been given much priority.

Nor had there been any great attempt at creating self-sustaining, self-regenerating long-term eco-systems through ecological restoration projects, Prof. Cassar and Dr Conrad wrote.

In Malta the term recreational means swings, and walkways, and lighting, and parks, which is not what a wooded area should be about

Dr Baldacchino said that past plans to improve the situation had either been left on the back burner, ignored completely, or done in a completely amateurish way, “without the necessary monitoring and follow up”.

The report goes on to outline a strategy for both afforestation and restoration projects within rural and urban areas in a bid to improve the island’s natural environment. Among other measures, it calls for increased recreational space, enhanced nature in urban areas, extending and buffering existing green areas, and increasing the provision of “associated ecosystem services”.

The report’s strategy includes an outline plan over a number of phases, and would involve a wide range of stakeholders from public, private and non-governmental sectors.

While agreeing with the overall position taken by the report, Dr Baldacchino said he would have strengthened certain parts of the document.

For instance, he had reservations over the term “recreation” (used to refer to the possible uses of new wooded areas) which he feels should have been better defined.

“The problem is that in Malta the term recreational means swings, and walkways, and lighting, and parks, which is not what a wooded area should be about,” he said. He added that the positive economic impact afforestation projects could generate had not stressed enough that these could “create a lot of jobs”.

“Not to mention the educational and scientific possibilities that having larger wooded areas could present...” he said.

In the south end of the island, areas had been highlighted for afforestation but never saw any trees, included the area surrounding the Addolorata Cemetery and a site in Ħal Far, the report says.

And while a number of areas along the northern stretch of the island are considered wooded, projects to augment them had repeatedly been left on the back burner. The report says that in the north harbour area there are just 0.33 hectares of green space for every 1,000 people.

Malta has one of the lowest percentages of forest cover across all of Europe. A 2010 Food and Agriculture Organisation report found that only San Marino, Monaco, the Vatican City and Gibraltar had fewer trees than Malta, relative to land size.

There have not yet been widespread efforts to afforest abandoned agricultural land, even if this possibility was also discussed in a number of Local Plan policies, the report says.

Trees have been planted for soft landscaping and visual screening purposes in a variety of both public and private sector developments. However, the report says that there is “certainly much scope for more widespread tree planting”, particularly for screening of “unsightly development” as well as simply for the provision of shade. Trees which attract birds should be considered when possible.

From an aesthetics point of view, the report says that artificial stands of exotic trees, as commonly found in the Gozitan countryside, have a detrimental impact on landscape integrity.

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