We often point an accusing finger at the construction of buildings as the main cause for the loss of agricultural land and trees in Malta.
One cannot escape the sight of cars or the sound of vehicle engines- Alan Deidun
This may well have been the case in the past few decades but, in recent years, road construction is also to blame. It is often disguised using terms such as ‘road alignment’, ‘upgrading of road network’ and ‘road widening’.
With the massive road projects in Luqa and Marfa/Ċirkewwa nearing completion, works on another long stretch of the road network is on the cards – the road from Salini to Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq to Pembroke – which may have some major environmental impacts.
In 2008 and 2009, Transport Malta had submitted two planning applications (PA 03883/08 and PA 03758/09) to the Malta Environment and Planning Authority for the proposed reconstruction, realignment and upgrading of the part of Route 1 of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T), specifically dealing with traffic junctions NA08 to NA10 (Salini to Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq) and NA10 to NA11 (Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq to Pembroke).
One of the junctions in question is that at Kennedy Grove which, admittedly, is a bottleneck and not very safe for drivers and pedestrians.
However, the price to be paid is high indeed. In fact, both options presented would encroach on 38,000 square metres of additional land, 15,000 square metres of which are agricultural, of which most is of prime value. Choosing between the two is indeed a Hobson’s choice.
The Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) anticipates that going for Option A at Kennedy Grove would result in major impacts on the watercourse and salt marsh habitats bordering Kennedy Grove. Actually, it would eliminate most of the salt marsh habitat along the southern fringes of the park and would also result in a loss of trees at Kennedy Grove.
One cannot escape the irony of proposing the loss of trees at Kennedy Grove which has sustained a tree-planting campaign in recent years. A case of robbing Peter to pay Paul?
Option B would still impinge on the salt marsh habitat and would also cause the loss of trees, but this option’s environmental impact is expected to be less severe. Unsurprisingly, Transport Malta prefers Option B, though I fail to feel a sense of relief as it feels more like a Pyrrhic victory.
I have focused on the impacts on the Kennedy Grove area, but land will be encroached all along the stretch of road. For example, near Torri tal-Għallis, at Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq, near residential area along Triq is-Salini, and so on, right up to Pembroke, with an anticipated loss of roughly half the habitat known as ermes (mainly based on branched asphodel).
Besides the habitat loss, theEIA also predicts other negative environmental impacts, like plants being trampled upon by machinery and workers during construction, dust being deposited on vegetation and on bodies of water, especially in the dry season, noise and vibration disturbance, generation of silt-laden runoff water, a large volume of excavated rock, not all of which will be re-used on site, and fly-tipping.
In addition to the projected loss of agricultural land, the loss of protected trees is probably the worst of all the anticipated environmental impacts. The list of affected tree species is agonisingly long – Judas trees, dwarf fan palms, olives, date palms, tamarisk trees, oaks, Aleppo pine trees, lentisk, poplar trees and common hawthorn trees are expected to be lost through the ‘upgrading’ of the entire stretch of road.
The EIA laudably recommends the transplanting of any uprooted mature trees, but in reality, how often are such recommendations adhered to by road contractors? Let’s not forget, not every uprooted tree species can be transplanted.
Landscaping along road fringes, usually with young trees or species that consume large amounts of water, is little solace for the massive anticipated loss of protected trees and is simply an attempt to sugar the bitter pill.
All the EIA reports are available online at www.mepa.org.mt/permitting-ea-cons.
A few weeks ago, statistics were released confirming the inexorable upward trend in car registrations. The numbers are staggering – at the end of March, the total number of registered vehicles stood at 313,027, a rise of 2.4 per cent over the previous year. Against this backdrop, the incentive for even more road-widening and encroach-ment on agricultural land is never-ending.
We are ending up in the ludicrous situation whereby even recreational areas in a natural setting, such as Ta’ Qali, are becoming so completely encircled by roads that one cannot escape the sight of cars passing or the sound of vehicle engines, despite all the landscaping.
Incidentally, although it may seem somewhat melodramatic to some, Din l-Art Ħelwa has recently launched a campaign entitled ‘Mass murder’ to collect information about the felling of mature trees as a result ofroad-widening exercises by Transport Malta.
The cutting down of roadside trees has also led to the setting up of Facebook groups such as ‘Save the trees’.
Another legacy of the 2006 rationalisation
The ramifications of the 2006 decision to enlarge the development boundaries are seemingly endless and are still generating feelings of dread among the many who did not trammel through the endless list of maps released in 2006.
For instance, Mepa recently approved the zoning of a large area of almost 5,000 square metres on the outskirts of Naxxar, closeto the Tal-Wej area, for theconstruction of detached and semi-detached villas, as if there wasn’t already a surplus of vacant dwellings in Malta.
Probably the Malta Developers Association would label this as sustainable development as it is sustaining the sector, which is crucial for the Maltese economy and which is, sadly, on the downturn... and in the meantime, more open spaces go under the axe.
This time round, Mepa board member Roderick Galdes was the only one to vote against the decision.
Brazilian President’s crucial choice awaited
Three of the world’s leading conservation and advocacy organisations (World Wildlife Fund, Greenpeace and Avaaz) have begun a mass mobilisation of their 22 million worldwide supporters to call on Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff to vetothe Forest Code Bill passed by the House of Deputies as they consider it a threat to recentsuccesses in reducing forestloss and compromises effortsto tackle corruption in theAmazon region.
President Rousseff has not given a public reaction nor indicated whether she intends to fight the measure since it was passed on April 25.
The groups say that only a full veto will safeguard Brazil’s forests and the global climate. President Rousseff received the Bill last week and has until May 25 to veto all or part of the Bill, or to allow it to become law.
“Over the past decade, Brazil has achieved stunning progress in reducing deforestation in the Amazon.
“We recognise that President Rousseff is under massive political pressure from those who would burn the forest for short-term gain, but we urge her to stand firm for the protection of the forest resources that are so vital to the future of all Brazilians, and the world,” said Jim Leape, WWF international director general.
Brazil’s Institute for Applied Economic Research has estimated that the new legislation could lead to the loss of up to 190 million acres of forest, which translates to 28 billion tonnes of added carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This would make it impossible for Brazil to reach its carbon reduction targets.
“Thousands of people from all over the world are sounding the alarm and calling Brazilian embassies to urge President Rousseff to save the Amazon.
“Nearly 80 per cent of Brazilians want this catastrophic Bill scrapped, and so far, over a million people across the world support them.
“President Rousseff has a choice – sign the Amazon’s death sentence or protect the planet’s lungs and emerge a public hero,” said Ricken Patel, Avaaz executive director.
The groups further criticisethe Bill’s amnesty provisions for past illegal forest clearance.
The proposed amnesties would not only free environmental criminals from prosecution, but also forfeit an estimated €3.7 billionin fines.
www.alandeidun.eu