The Mepa reform will not serve anything if it does not protect the natural environment more than it has done until now. The reform should be carried out by changing the Structural Plan as to leave no loopholes.

We have to decide now how we want the Maltese Islands to look in the future. At the rate we are going, we will build all over the Maltese Islands. Places of natural beauty like Ta’ Cenc and Ramla Bay and their environs in Gozo are being targeted by people who have lots of money. So the Structural Plan must leave no loopholes, because otherwise these people will find a way through with the expert help of other people who will help them if they line their pockets.

The natural environment we have: our open spaces, hills, ridges, our ecosystems, the three islands separated by sea make the Maltese Islands and give them their identity as much as the churches, historical buildings and so on. So let’s preserve it and rehabilitate it where it has been ruined. For example, we should rehabilitate Hondoq ir-Rummien and make it a national park. The infamous Gozo racetrack should be restored.

Even the Church should be in favour and educate its workers to be aware of the need of protecting the natural environment. It is a good that reflects God’s beauty and is for all to enjoy, rich and not so rich alike. Fairness and justice demand this: that the natural beauty, our coastlines and our beaches are enjoyed by all and not by some capricious developer who enjoys the view from his own balcony while ruining the view of all the others. The Church should also set an example. In the Nadur Cemetery case, it did not consult the farmers involved, the Bishop did not listen to their pleas, other sites were not considered, and the Church’s Environment Commission did not comment on this development. I hope that, while there is still time, this development is stopped and reversed.

There should be a list of priorities when we talk about taking care of the environment, with the first one being protecting what natural environment we have left. Many blow their own horn about how they care for the environment. They plant trees, as seen on TV. They manage waste. All this is good. But the first priority is protecting the natural land. What good does it do to continue expanding into the natural environment, making gashes in it, and then planting trees to hide the wound?

This is our home. We have to preserve this diamond. The natural environment we have, the clay slopes, the garigue, the undulating hills in the distance, our orange and yellow cliffs and ridges, the three islands separated by sea make Malta and Gozo what they are. If we lose what we have left, we lose it for eternity. There are places like Malta, but there is only one Malta.

Joe Portelli

NADUR