The double-edged sword of tourism is increasingly coming under the microscope of environmentalists and governments managing tourist-based economies. The main thrust of a recent British study dealt with the dichotomy representing the many economic benefits arising out of concomitant development which accompanies tourism and the sometimes heavy price host nations pay in the form of the significant toll on natural and historic assets from pollution and the debilitating effects of intensive people traffic.
The price of economic progress gets exponentially higher when ministers responsible for the broader spectrum of environmental matters are apathetic towards the growing signs of degradation and not only do too little to address the problems but actually either support or turn a blind eye to certain businesses which further aggravate the growing issues associated with conservation and sustainability of the island’s environment.
Malta was blessed with a hard-won legacy of a rich history and a once pristine natural beauty, which has attracted tourists in their millions over the years. Both aspects are irreplaceable national assets of inestimable value and both are under increasing pressure.
Given the vital importance of these two elements to the national economy, it is incomprehensible that Malta’s conservation and environmental policy has been for decades at best shambolic and unenforced. This is not about partisan politics as governments of different political persuasion have come and gone and conservation and environment treated with the same lack of support.
The licensing of practically unregulated fish farms in some of the most beautiful bays around the island is sheer environmental vandalism
Over the last decade increasing international concerns about damaged global eco-systems have raised the bar significantly for environmentally supportive policies and most importantly for strict enforcement of new laws and regulations introduced all over the world.
Thailand recently closed the island of Koh Tachai because of unacceptable environmental damage from tourism. Bali is limiting access to some of its more popular beaches and the mountain track to Mount Everest is now so polluted with human waste, strong restrictions are being introduced.
In Turkey boats moored in bays along the coast are regularly monitored by the coastguard and compelled to have their holding tanks emptied by specially equipped boats designed to handle effluent. This policy has reduced the incidence of discharging untreated human waste in popular bays and coastal areas.
Given the number of boats at for example the blue lagoon during summer, this should be serious enough to sound alarm bells even in the most complacent offices of our bureaucracy. In most countries it is now a strict requirement for licensed boats ferrying tourists to bays and coastal areas to be fitted with fully serviceable and properly maintained marine sewage treatment equipment subjected to regular inspections by maritime enforcement officers.
The licensing of practically unregulated fish farms in some of the most beautiful bays around the island is sheer environmental vandalism and a contradiction in terms of creating a more attractive tourist-friendly sea environment.
There are literally dozens of readily available reports from eminent world-class scientific bodies on the extraordinarily harmful and polluting nature of fish farms even when they are strictly controlled, which is clearly not the case in Malta. Operators are reportedly adjusting their size and boundaries at will without the necessary permits. Fish farms in close proximity of coastal areas are now widely recognised as the new polluting pariahs of the developed world.
They produce vast concentrations of suspended effluent and uneaten food rich in steroids, antibiotics and other unimaginable nasties. They destroy eco systems on seabeds and incubate diseases which are passed to domestic fish stocks.
There was a time when swimming and snorkelling in the crystal clear waters around Fekruna Bay and St Paul’s Islands was an absolute joy. It is now akinto swimming in a toxic cesspool of effluent emanating from an expanded fish farm just few hundred metres from the nearest shoreline.
Present and future generations are stakeholders in Malta’s natural assets such as the once translucent sea around us and it should not be open to governments to will these assets away to business interests on the obscure excuse they provide employment.
In the US, fish farms are now the subject of very strict environmental controls with regular audits of their chemical uses. Among other provisions, they are required to install powerful filtering systems to minimise the gross pollution they create and their locations moved well away from sensitive shore lines.
The list of environmental concerns in Malta is much too long to detail here. The main and most relevant issue is the absolute lack of enforcement. There are many examples of enacted regulations either fashionably plagiarised from other countries or foisted on Malta by EU regulators which have been quickly forgotten and blatantly violated with next to zero enforcement.
The aesthetic look of Malta has dramatically changed for the worse over theyears and continues to deteriorate. Stunningly beautiful Italianate villas on the Sliema seafront which survived the might of the German Luftwaffe are but wiped out by ill-thought planning policies. They have been replaced by soulless concrete monoliths out of scale in a small place like Malta and more in line with crass city skylines of oil rich Middle East cities thanthe tasteful Mediterranean legacy bequeathed by our forebears.
That legacy is now lost forever. Thefew remaining villas with their characteristic historic balconies should all beheritage listed without delay and government grants made available to helptheir restoration.
No elected government has ever been given a carte blanche to deal with national assets on an ad hoc basis, particularly when it is in the interest of political aggrandisement or patronage.
Land in Malta is scarce and yet government after government continue to readily acquiesce to the rapacious demands of land grabbers by handing large tracts of land to them at rock bottom prices making developers richer and present and future Maltese generations poorer.
No government can claim a mandate for that. Proposed developments or sales of this highly precious national resource is clearly the subject of serious public concern. Future transfers of public land to private interests should become subject to a rigorous ‘national interest test’ to enable an impartial bipartisan board to evaluate and reach conclusions in a pro-fessional manner after fair representations by all stakeholders, including the public.
The ongoing land grab by developers should be resisted and not assisted by government. Every public issue in Malta has political connotations and the issue of enforcement is no exception.
Always the spectre of retribution at the polls by people alienated by any form of disciplinary action is like a grey ghost lurking in the deepest recesses of ministers’ minds.
Change may only come through the ballot box by the younger generation who clearly should have a more relevant interest in the environment. My advice to those who will be voting for the first time at the next election is: unshackle yourselves from inherited political partisanship and support environmentally friendly candidates who are truly serious about your future and your children’s future.
Anthony Trevisan is a businessman.