I wonder aloud what exactly the Agriculture Department or indeed the responsible entities are doing about the Red Palm Weevil, which is not-so-slowly but oh-so-surely killing off mature palm trees, mostly the Canary Island Palm - the most common species.

I have been prompted to write about this very serious matter because of a friend's comment that at their place of work they noticed two palm trees showing the typical symptoms, and had called up the authorities about these trees. The response they received was, in not too many words, "we can do nothing about it".

It would seem, therefore, that the answer to my question is "nothing". Very simply put, if this "effort" is maintained, Malta will soon become possibly the only palm-free Mediterranean island. Apart from the financial cost of replacing these trees with substitutes whether palm or not, which undoubtedly will run into millions, there is also the intangible cost of the aesthetic degradation of our urban landscape. In many places, the presence of a decades old (or more) palm tree or trees characterises a locality.

Only last week I was contemplating the beauty of the row of palms in front of San Anton Gardens, and noting that thankfully they all seemed untouched. Some, the ones closest to the garden entrance, must be up to 100 years old. As I turned a corner, probably less than 100m away was (and still is) an afflicted and dying palm tree in the front garden of a private residence. Will something be done, or are we to wait until the majestic row of palms is slowly decimated?

Serious, determined and very persistent action over a number of years must be taken to contain this threat to all our palm trees, possibly with the hope that it may be eliminated. Palm trees showing signs of damage should be removed and destroyed immediately, to prevent the problem from spreading. The lifecycle (eggs, larvae, cocoon, adult) only takes approximately four months, and each female can lay up to 300 eggs, so the potential for rapid infestation of large numbers of trees in case of inaction is very high. Apparently, the use of pesticides is of limited effectiveness - once the weevil larvae are deep within the tree, it is difficult for chemical control to work, or at least, it is highly impracticable to go to the great efforts required to save even one tree, and apply these efforts to all infected trees.

Thus the tree is effectively condemned. The one reason why this strategy of removal and destruction is likely to work is that all life stages of the weevil are spent in/on the host, and the adults do not ordinarily seek out a different host tree until it is dead.

Theoretically therefore, if control spans a number of lifecycles, the threat could be eliminated effectively. The only complication is that there are undoubtedly many trees which are infected and which as yet are not showing any obvious signs, at least to the layman's eye. This is why control efforts must be persistent, without letup or complacency.

If necessary, legislation must also be promptly drawn up to empower the authorities to take the required action by pre-empting any legal issues that may crop up with respect to taking action on palm trees situated on private property. And very obviously the required manpower must be allocated specifically to this task - at this point in time they do undoubtedly have enough to keep them busy for many long months.