Hundreds of people from all walks of life put partisan politics aside yesterday and gathered in Valletta to show their concern about the state of the environment in Malta.

The national rally was organised by the lobby group Flimkien ghal Ambjent Ahjar (Together for a better environment) together with other environmental NGOs. More than 1,000 people turned up for the event during which a national petition on the state of the environment was launched.

Many of those present who spoke to The Malta Independent on Sunday during the rally said they decided to attend because they were “seriously concerned” about the state of the environment in Malta and Gozo, which is getting worse as time goes by. Many said they are preoccupied as their quality of life is worsening because of the state of the environment.

The rally was attended by representatives of the three political parties including MEP David Casa. In a statement, the Nationalist Party said that although it did not agree with everything that was said during the rally, the environment was high on the party’s agenda. Labour Party secretary general Jason Micallef, as well as other MLP officials and MPs were also present at the event.

Alternattiva Demokratika chairman Harry Vassallo led the representatives of the Green Party in Malta.

Several representatives of non-governmental environment organisations attended the rally while others turned up to express their disapproval with the way the Malta Environment and Planning Authority was issuing permits for developments, some of them controversial.

Many Marsascala residents complained that the environment in their locality was not taken into account, if not completely ignored, as regards the permits MEPA issued for the extension of the fish farms and the re-development of the Sant’Antnin waste recycling plant in Marsascala. A man told this newspaper that residents have put up with many inconveniences for several years because of the waste recycling plant. Now, he said, not only do the authorities want to re-develop and enlarge the present site, they also gave the go-ahead to extend the aquaculture zone in Marsascala.

He said their quality of life has been compromised just to please a handful of developers. “Marsascala is always referred to as a tourist zone and it is high time the authorities start treating the locality as such. We have been lumped with two fishy developments – actually, one is fishier than the other – which will continue to make our life miserable and continue to eat away the value of the property we purchased there,” he said.

A woman said she could not understand why the government had opted to allocate more land for development when there are more than 20,000 empty houses in Malta. She said that although the authorities worry that there is not enough land for development on the island, they still award permits for the construction of large houses instead of using the space to create more dwellings.

“More development is really not in the national interest. If the government and MEPA truly care about the environment, they should do something about it rather than increase the area of land for development. This issue is not a political one. The environment is not a political issue. If it were, I would not be here,” she said.

Addressing the large crowd with a small megaphone, which made it difficult for people not in the vicinity to hear, the coordinator of the organisation Flimkien ghal Ambjent Ahjar Astrid Vella thanked the people who attended the rally to express their serious concern about the state of the environment. She said the environment is a non-political issue and that is why people of all political beliefs should stand up and be counted.

“We cannot take it any longer. We are living in Third World conditions because of the environment. Our quality of life must no longer be sold to a handful of developers. It’s not true that the Maltese do not care about the environment,” she said and urged people to sign the national petition on the environment that was launched yesterday.

Speaking about the proposal to increase the development zones, Ms Vella said these would destroy what little is left of the environment.