Sustainable development is development that can be sustained and not become a white elephant. So the use of ground water by innumerable boreholes done illegally then sanctioned is not sustainable because the level of ground water is falling fast. It cannot be sustained in the future. This reasoning should be applied to any development.

For example, the Gozo tunnel is not sustainable first and foremost because of the price tag and running maintenance and will never make a profit and, secondly, Gozo will no longer remain an island. It would be much better to liberalise the transport between the islands and invest in Gozo a fraction of the money used for the tunnel.

We cannot apply examples of past development for today. Like the wise guy who said, we would not have Valletta today if, at that time, people were against development. We should follow the good examples of other countries that are conserving, recycling waste much more than we are doing, rehabilitating disturbed habitats, making national parks, etc.

It seems we Maltese are experts when we talk on conserving the environment worldwide but we are very weak, reward illegalities and leave loopholes in legislation when we deal with our local environment. Charity begins at home and let us not forget that what is developed here in Malta rarely returns to its natural state.

I wonder why the same developers and authorities destroying the natural environment use pictures and videos of the natural environment to promote the beauty of Malta and the value of their developments. Let us not forget that our historic buildings will not look so nice without the backdrop of the natural environment.