The Malta Environment and Planning Authority has recently scheduled a stretch of coastline and hinterland along the north-eastern coast of Gozo, located within the limits of Xaghra and Zebbug known as Ghajn Barrani.
Protecting sites of ecological and scientific importance is high on the Authority’s agenda as it seeks to continue its efforts to ensure that land use and the protection of the environment meet the needs of today’s society and future communities.
Apart from the remarkable landscape that this site allows people to appreciate, the area has a rich component of biodiversity, and it is for this reason that the authority is scheduling the area to restrict development according to the different levels of protection that have been allocated. This area is typified by various vegetation communities of national and international importance associated with watercourses, garigue and clay slopes, including species such as the native African tamarisk, chaste tree and shrubby orache (plant) communities and unique maquis based on old olives, hawthorns, pomegranates and various wild rosaceous tree species.
The Ghajn Barrani Area has been given three distinct levels of protection. The highest degree of protection is the Level 1 Area of Ecological Importance (AEI) and Site of Scientific Importance (SSI), limited to the troughs along the clay slopes that support freshwater springs. The rest of the clay slopes, escarpments and coastline are scheduled as a Level 2 AEI and SSI, whereas the Ghajn Damma peninsula is scheduled as a Level 2 SSI. The adjacent areas further inland have been scheduled as a Level 3 Buffer Zone to further safeguard the integrity of the Level 1 and 2 areas. The entire area has also been scheduled as an Area of High Landscape Value.
As well as informing all known landowners or users of this scheduling, MEPA will also be distributing an information leaflet to all residents in the area.
The authority says it remains committed to passing on to future generations a better country than was inherited by seeking to implement sustainable development that safeguards the environment.