Did the double-decker incident last April trigger a 9/11 moment for Malta’s trees? Since the tourist bus double-fatality in Żurrieq last April, observers claim that “instead of pruning, the authorities are simply eradicating trees completely”.
Facebook groups ‘Trees Cannot Talk’, administered by Din l-Art Ħelwa, and ‘Save the Trees’ (on which eNGO Flimkien Għal Ambjent Aħjar is very active) have become a focus for public outrage over the institutionalised persecution of established trees in Malta today.
Environment Minister José Herrera’s momentous postulation of 12,000 indigenous trees to be planted around the Maltese islands is reminiscent of a former prime minister’s pre-election canticle some decades ago:
Remember “Nwardu Malta”… showering Malta with roses?
Where did it all go wrong?
Many colourful, drought-resistant species can withstand arid conditions for most of the year. Instead, lucrative contracts for filling public areas with exotic plants requiring irrigation systems are on the increase.
They feed off government projects which are often at odds with approved national plans or policies. At times these projects are against all common sense… and this is one of those times.
There is something spinal about the tree-lined road leading up to the citadel of Mdina and its suburb, Rabat. One of Malta’s oldest roads, the main link between the port and the old capital, has the feel of a backbone.
It sent shivers down the collective spine when word of a plan to take out nearly all the Aleppo pines along the road ran riot on social media last month.
The €55 million Central Link project is intent on widening the Rabat road. It looks as if this may be done Kennedy Grove style, with half the trees ending up in a centre-strip and agricultural land paved over to create two more traffic lanes on the other side.
Laying concrete pavements around Aleppo pines, where before there was only soil, may eventually result in sealing the trees on the Rabat road to a sorry fate. Roadside trees, which have spread their root system laterally for several metres over the years, may not adapt so easily to soil sealing.
Covering the soil under the trees with concrete, leaving only a metre square or so for each tree, is also likely to increase flooding in the Mrieħel area.
Instead of utilising our congested roads as an incentive to promote alternative forms of transport and cut down on car use, this short-term project panders to cars without limit despite claiming 13 per cent less greenhouse gas emissions over the present scenario.
Transport Malta seems to be ignoring its own Transport Master Plan 2025, which called for a rapid bus transit system on arterial roads.
The conundrum is that there currently isn’t much room for a continuous bus lane on the Attard-Rabat road. And there isn’t space for uninterrupted cycle lanes on both sides of the road, as favoured by the Bicycling Advocacy Group, without cutting down trees.
Another eyebrow-raising feature of the Central Link project is the spectacular cyclist and pedestrian bridge, on par with the ‘bridge’ at Tigné Point built by Steel Structures Ltd. (They also built the pedestrian overpass at Mrieħel where “solar-powered lifts”, promised by the former energy minister, have yet to be installed.)
Will this bridge, in such a sensitive scenic setting, become yet another structure from which to hang election banners?
Has the visual impact of the bridge on views to and from Mdina been considered?
As the Attard Residents Environmental Network points out, the upgrade of the road corridor at Mrieħel, Birkirkara, Attard and Rabat does not provide a medium- and long-term traffic management solution. On the other hand, is their traffic management plan to divert more traffic to other roads acceptable to all residents?
At the last count we were down to three trees for the chop on the Rabat road, according to Infrastructure Malta CEO Frederick Azzopardi. The historic row of trees had suffered some losses when a petrol station permit saw the felling of a number of Aleppo pines, reportedly planted by the Knights.
To put things into perspective, eNGO Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar released this appeal back in 2007:
“No amount of ‘compensatory planting’ of saplings, especially imported specimens, will make up for such a loss,” said FAA at the time.
The environment authority of the day replied that the petrol station developer was committed to an “extensive compensatory planting scheme” along the public road network that provides access to the site.
This was to include 39 indigenous species, including six Mediterranean palms, two Mediterranean Cypress trees, six Evergreen Oaks, eight Sandarac gum trees and two Aleppo pines.
Many of our leafy public squares are being turned into deserts with too much glare and not enough sheltered places
Removing trees to replant them in an existing grove gives them less space to reach full maturity. It must be remembered that trees are not sardines.
There have also been too many examples of saplings, planted with great aplomb in front of the TV cameras, only to be poorly maintained and left to die.
A year after Labour came to power, a rebranded Calamatta Landscapes became the holding company (through Environmental Landscapes Consortium) of Medisun Landscapes, partnered with Polidano Construction Group. By their own admission, this put them in “an unrivalled position” to tackle major landscaping works on main roads, roundabouts and public areas.
Two years ago, a tree survey was carried out by Medisun Landscapes Ltd on a field bordering Sta Luċija in connection with a planning application for a five-storey home for the elderly.
According to the consultancy that carried out the Environmental Impact Statement, Medisun’s survey of the field falsely declared that “the area is free from any trees or shrubs and thus there are no species to be saved, conserved or otherwise”.
During an inspection the consultancy noted several almond trees growing on site. A subsequent landscaping plan made no attempt to retain some of the land’s original character by including or replicating the resident almond trees. The Environment and Resources Authority has objected to the permit application.
The general sentiment with landscaping projects is that they look good on plan – or in the promotional video – but once executed they can tend to be quite different from what was originally proposed to the public.
New trees planted in Paola Square have “large containers with root barriers which will mean they can grow without damaging the infrastructure”, according to architect Christopher Mintoff. Mature ficus trees were removed on the grounds they had been planted in without containment and were damaging paving, roads, large reservoirs and a World War II shelter.
Many of our leafy public squares are being turned into deserts with too much glare and not enough sheltered places for people to sit protected from the heat of the sun’s rays.
The plan for a redesigned garden at Ġnien Duminku Mintoff in Wied Blandun has drawn much criticism against the destruction of existing mature trees and lack of shady spots for people to sit.
“A fantasy of concrete, soil and soullessness,” as someone aptly put it.
Għaqda Siġar Maltin has been set up this year “to rehabilitate degraded ecosystems around the Maltese islands by cleaning and repopulating these areas with indigenous flora grown from local stock”.
The Facebook group, run by a qualified landscape architect, sent a letter to the Environment Minister objecting to the impending loss of trees on the Rabat road and take-up of agricultural land.
Next Sunday, the Grow Ten Trees group (also on Facebook) will be working on an “ecological restoration” project in the northern edge of Għargħur.
As Maltese soil continues to dry up, some old trees can be expected to keel over and die, unable to withstand encroaching climate change.