Many people think that Malta has a severe lack of tree cover because it is simply a barren island. This is actually not the case. Malta was once like Cyprus, to give an example. It was covered with trees – mostly pine, before the arrival of the Knights of St John.

Ironically, it was the Order of St John, which bequeathed us so much, which actually raped the island and left it devoid of trees. The reason for this was to build warships to take on the Muslim threat. Necessity, as always, rules – especially in times of war.

The Knights tried to re-populate the island with trees, but it was mostly an Orwellian case of some pigs are more equal than others. They planted the boschetto – buskett- but it was a hunting reserve which was privy to the Knights’ leadership.

Since then, Malta has remained the European country with the lowest tree cover when compared to land mass. There have been various attempts to plant more trees in Malta. In the 1970s, the Labour Government of the time imported a number of alien trees from Australia – Wattle and Eucalyptus being some of them. There are still a few around the islands.

More recently, successive PN governments embarked on massive (by our standards) afforestation projects. The 34U campaign (though terrible in terms of English use – but that is another story) has seen thousands of trees planted by government, private sponsors and corporate sponsors. Sadly, the saplings have been targeted by vandals on more than one occasion, yet the project is bearing fruit. It will take years, if not decades for these trees to reach their full potential, but you have to start somewhere.

More recently, Environment Minister Leo Brincat announced that there would be a public consultation meeting on World Environment Day on 5 June to discuss the tree situation in Malta and Gozo. Dr Brincat said that one of his aims is to encourage local councils to become more involved in the management of trees.

He said that trees in Malta are in a sorry state and we could not agree more. On many occasions, trees have been ripped up to make way for development. All too often, the removal of trees has been justified because the trees themselves are not endemic. Well, some might disagree, but many people in Malta would prefer alien species to no trees at all.

Tree transplanting can be done, and has been done. But there have been many cases where they have literally just been ripped out roots and all, and just disposed of. The main issues which the government must devote attention to are the regular planting of more tree saplings and safeguarding trees from development. The government also ought to focus on creating more green spaces in urban areas. More mature trees should be procured (as they can be) and small groves and copses can be created. A park need not have a water feature and kiddy rides, sometimes all people want to do is sit under the shade of a big tree and read a book.

In addition, the mentality needs to be sown (pardon the pun) insomuch that all trees have a value – whether they are young, mature or alien. We need to preserve as many of them as we can – we have far too few of them already.