FAA calls on government to protect trees

In an open letter to the Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, the green NGO Flimkien ghal-Ambjent Ahjar (FAA) called on the government to protect the country's natural environment, including trees.

In a letter signed by FAA's secretary Antonio Anastasi, the NGO called for the Prime Minister's urgent intervention to ensure the enforcement of legal regulations,
to rectify the fragmentation of political responsibility , stop the onslaught on trees
and protect the natural environment.

"Honourable Prime Minister, Now that your government has been in office for some months it had been expected that it would have taken professional measures for the better protection and appreciation of Malta and Gozo's natural environment, including our trees which need urgent attention. However, there is little evidence that the Government is working seriously to achieve this aim."

In the open letter, FAA noted its regret that the present situation is worse than it was a few months ago due to the fragmentation of political responsibilities regarding the natural environment.

"Prime Minister, it has been said repeatedly over the last half century that by destroying Malta's characteristic beauty and environment, we are killing the goose that lays the golden egg. We trust that under your stewardship, your government will focus on the protection of the natural environment rather than on the furtherance of speculative projects whose claimed benefits are at best short- term, and not in accordance with Malta's long-term social, economic and environmental interests."

FAA pointed out that landscaping falls under the responsibility of the transport and infrastructure minister, while MEPA falls within the remit of the Parliamentary Secretary for Planning within Muscat's office.

"This means that the Environment Directorate is not yet accountable in any way to the Minister responsible for the protection of the environment," Anastasi said.

"To our great regret, MEPA, whose legal aim and objective is the protection of the environment, continues to give priority to developers' interests and to major projects while neglecting environmental priorities."

In reference to urban greening, the NGO stressed that MEPA "appears to be more involved in decimating and even eliminating trees rather than in taking a proactive stance to save them, to enforce the present regulations or to increase Malta's tree cover."

While welcoming the fact that a minister had been appointed for the protection of the environment, FAA said it failed to understand why the protection and management of trees was so fragmented, so much so that the environment minister appeared to have no say in it.

"As a result, this shameful lack of protection and management of trees is leading to anarchy as regards trees," FAA said, citing a number of incidents in which trees were uprooted or destructed in Marsalforn, Pieta, Madliena and Hamrun.

"The denuding of urban trees in the name of landscaping is a government policy which we cannot comprehend."

The open letter was also sent to ministers Leo Brincat and Joe Mizzi and parliamentary secretary Michael Farrugia.