Regulations to protect indigenous trees have an undesired effect: that private people will plant less indigenous trees. While the regulations are to be lauded on the protection of existing indigenous Maltese trees and those in public spaces, they fail to encourage the planting of new indigenous Maltese trees in private gardens or private farmland.

In an effort to encourage the cultivation of protected Maltese trees, the regulations need to include an exemption on newly planted protected trees by private individuals on private land. A public consultation – Trees and Woodlands Protection Regulations, 2018 – has been launched on the matter and I urge people to consider my proposal and contribute to this consultation.

In an effort to protect “trees and woodlands in the Maltese Islands, their safeguarding, and the regulation of activities that may have an effect thereon”, both present and future, the regulations penalise individuals who prospectively decide, of their own free will, to plant Maltese indigenous trees on their land.

Depending on the level of tree protection, an individual who plants a Maltese tree in his garden or in his field will need to apply for a permit to prune or to remove the tree in the eventuality that he needs to utilise the land for another purpose. While this level of protection makes perfect rational sense for established trees, its effects on the cultivation of indigenous trees on private land are counterproductive. I will illustrate this with two examples.

The first example is of a person who wishes to plant a tree in his or her front garden. If this person plants a citrus tree or a non-protected tree, he is free to prune and to remove the tree whenever he wants, unconstrained and without the need to apply for a permit.

The message is most obvious – ‘do not plant a protected tree in your front garden!’

If the same person decides to plant a sandarac gum tree, he is ‘penalised’ with restrictions that include the need to apply for a permit to prune the tree. There will also be restrictions on the removal of the tree in the eventuality that he decides to utilise his private land for a different purpose. While the intentions of a person who plants a new tree, be it a citrus tree or a sandarac gum tree, is never to remove it but to see it grow over time, the mere fact that there is a restriction on its pruning and on its removal discourages him or her from planting a protected tree in the first place.

The message is most obvious – ‘do not plant a protected tree in your front garden!’

The second example is of a farmer who wishes to plant a holm oak on his farm. As the regulations stand, such a person will need to apply for a permit to prune the tree or else face a penalty of a maximum of €30,000.

This restriction is sufficient for the farmer to choose to plant a different tree and to maintain the possibility to prune the tree unencumbered while retaining the flexibility over the use of his or her own land. As a matter of fact, the regulations counter-intuitively discourage the planting of new Maltese trees by private individuals on their land.

To be sure, these restrictions were already present in the older version of the regulations of 2011. Now that the regulations are being revised it is imperative that newly planted indigenous trees by private individuals on private land are exempted from the restrictions imposed by the law on existing trees.

My proposal, far from perfect but enough to mitigate the effects, is to include an exemption in the revised regulations on newly planted (prospective) protected Maltese trees by private individuals on their private land.

Such an exemption will provide the peace of mind to whoever would like to plant indigenous Maltese trees in his garden or in his field without fear of reprimand or undue restrictions. In the long-term, such an exemption will increase the stock and the variety of indigenous trees on the Maltese islands.

The exemption may be time-bound, and trees that have established themselves and been in place for a very long time (e.g. 50 years) may start enjoying protection along with the current stock of established indigenous Maltese trees.

I urge all those who have at heart the natural heritage of the Maltese islands, to review the proposed legislation at https://era.org.mt/en/Pages/Trees-and-Woodlands-Protection-Regulations,-2018.aspx and to submit their feedback to the Environment and Resources Authority at era.policyconsultation@era.org.mt requesting the inclusion of an article in the legislation exempting newly planted protected trees (under Schedule 1 of the aforementioned legislation) by private individuals on private land. The public consultation period is open until March 1.

Roberto Debono is a medical doctor and a specialist in public health medicine. The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.

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