The aim of organising a National Environment Rally is to highlight the situation of environmental abuse, which is threatening our health and well-being with uncontrolled building activity contributing to Malta having the highest rate of asthma in the Mediterranean, while conditions in several towns and villages have become unbearable due to the incessant noise, air pollution, obstruction by cranes, broken pavements and so on caused b the construction industry.

Besides the destruction of our traditional village cores and heritage architecture, the Maltese are increasingly feeling that what is replacing these old buildings is most often poorly designed, inappropriate to the context and disturbs residential areas with commercial projects. Permits to build yet more units are being granted with no attention to population density ratios and infrastructural load. Enforcement against illegal development and illicit uses of public land is practically non-existent, while the sanctioning of abusive works only encourages others to build abusively.

The people are equally concerned that although Malta’s built-up surface area already stands at an alarming 22 per cent compared to the European average of seven per cent, the government has now announced plans to destroy a further 2.4 per cent of what is left of our precious countryside with new regulations that allow building in certain ODZ areas.

At the rally we will also be expressing ourselves against plans to use ecologically sensitive areas like Ta’ Cenc and ix-Xaghra il-Hamra for golf courses, the loss of our rural heritage for the benefit of the few. Similarly, the public is being denied access to the countryside, foreshore and coastal zones by developers and squatters. Our sea and the life it sustains have also been abused with long-lasting impacts for which immediate measures are needed to reverse the damage. Our sea provides us with all the water, natural resources, leisure and numerous sources of income, but all these are currently at risk. Poor environmental management, resulting in loss of jobs and closure of businesses, has also affected tourism.

This rally is a non-political activity that is being organised by most of Malta’s environmental NGOs: Animal Sanctuary Association, BICREF, BirdLife Malta, Din l-Art Helwa, Flimkien ghal-Abmbjent Ahjar, Fondaz-zjoni Wirt Artna, Friends of

the Earth, Gaia Found-ation, Graffitti, Insalvaw il-Wied ta’ Kalkara, Kumitat ghall-Harsien Rurali ta’ Ghajn Tuffieha, MOAM, NatureTrust, Qui-si-Sana Residents’ Associ-ation, Ramblers’ Association, Save Wied Garnaw Action Group.

This is the first time that so many associations have come together to organise such an activity on a national scale and we urge the public to come to Valletta on Saturday at 10am to make our voice heard and demand a better future for our children.