Our sister paper, The Malta Independent on Sunday, last Sunday carried an article which described the huge amount of vandalism and worse that goes on at the Park tal-Majjistral, an area of uncontaminated beauty and one of the last lungs of fresh air and real contact with nature that this small island still has.

Although the park came into being some years ago, it is still very much an open wasteland for many: There are no boundary walls, there are only three part-time officials for the entire area, and some people, farmers especially, still carry out their legitimate business inside it.

But the extraordinary amount of rubbish dumping that takes place should shame us as a nation. People just drive in and drop anything useless they have at home. At a lecture last week, it was also said that huge deposits of factory waste had also been found.

Recently, what used to be the British barracks were added to the park and it has turned out to be the hardest job of all – to take over the barrack buildings, each of which had been taken over by squatters, force them out and ensure they did not come back. In some cases, the squatters did come back time and again until they were finally forced out.

Some of the buildings were being used to breed fighting dogs, some even doubled as mechanic’s garages, many became second (or holiday) houses with some mod. cons. thrown in.

One could expect us to talk also about the hunting and trapping that are going on but given the amount of vandalism that goes on, hunting does not add much, although trapping does rather more.

The thing is that the area is one of unquestioned beauty which it is our national duty to preserve and to ensure that our countrymen and visitors to Malta drink as deep as they can from the benefits of this area.

The area is a rugged corner of Malta, containing cliffs, shoreline, garigue, sea, an astounding amount of plants, along with birds and other forms of life. It is an eco-system that needs to be preserved and defended from anything and everything that can undermine it.

The area is supremely made for walking, so cars and even worse off-roaders should be banned.

The park must be defended far more than it is now. The number of people involved, rangers or whatever one calls them, must be increased. The country must have enough resources to defend what it prizes.

One is reassured that the park is now being visited by a number of schoolchildren who are being brought in contact with nature (maybe for the first time in their life) and one encourages even more schools to do so.

Maybe the park can also boost up the means at its disposal. One thinks, for instance, of the possibility of the park getting a number of electric vehicles to help people, both children and also elderly visitors, get about.

One also rejoices that the park intends to set up an Interpretation Centre where the visitors can learn about what forms of life can be found and seen in the park.

Finally, the best advertisement for the park cannot be any amount of brochures or colour pictures, but the sheer experience of walking through the park, especially in the magical months from February to May when plants come out in a wide variety of flowers.