Over the last three years the environment has been placed at the forefront of the national discourse perhaps more than it has ever been in the past. 

From rampant, unchecked development to pressing for a referendum on the controversial spring hunting season, from the country’s slacking on the renewable energy front to the genetically modified organism issue, and from air quality to Outside Development Zone policies and much more – all matters environmental seem to be taking centre stage lately.

While we in the media have played a certain role in this new and heightened awareness, we cannot claim the credit for this new heightened sense of environmental awareness sweeping over the country.

That kudos should go to the government of the day, which kick-started the new environmental movement way back when it chose to grant a sizeable stretch of Outside Development land to a private, for-profit educational institution.

But it is also through the hard work of many of the country’s environmental NGOs and their dogged pursuit of environmental justice in all its forms that has well and truly raised awareness.

It is through the efforts of many of these relentless volunteers that attitudes in this country are changing, and changing for the better. But it will only be when there is a critical mass of environmentalists that politicians will stop the lip service and truly heed what is being demanded of them – to safeguard what is left of this small country’s countryside and to work to actively improve citizens’ quality of life in the way that only the proper protection of the environment can do.

And yesterday’s protest in Sliema drove the point home. Hundreds of people turned out in droves to stand up to be counted and to make their voices heard. It is true that more, many more, concerned citizens should have rallied to yesterday’s cause, but the fact of the matter is that there are so many people out there who are still afraid, for one reason or another, to wear their heart on their sleeve. Many still prefer to complain in private and to keep their lips pursed in public. That, however, is changing and it has been changing fast over the last three years.

Yesterday’s protest is exactly the type of civic action that will force politicians to listen to environmentalists’ pleas. Their demands were multiple but their central demands are the same: more nature, less concrete, an end to rampant overdevelopment, lack of planning, lack of consideration for residents’ health and well-being and the ruination of the architectural and historical heritage, not only of Sliema but across the country.

There were no political connotations and no ulterior motives behind yesterday’s protest, this was a case of civil society making itself heard – a worthy cause and one that we would like to see much more of. Specifically because unless the public makes its voice heard, politicians will not respond.

Concerned citizens, unprompted by political concerns and out of a genuine concern for the country’s quality of life and the environment that surrounds us, sent another clear message to the powers that be. It is hoped that it will be heeded in due course.

Overall, the country’s environmental lobby has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years, and the government, and the Opposition for that matter, will ignore this growing movement at their peril. The Opposition certainly has not ignored this growing movement and it has been quick to jump on board the environmental bandwagon.

The main political parties would do well to take note of what the environmentalist are saying. There was a time when their numbers were negligible when it came to the grand electoral stakes, but those times are now behind us. 

The environmental lobby as a whole has grown significantly in recent years and it is only a matter of time before their clout grows enough for them to well and truly begin to set the political agenda in Malta, as has been the case in so many other countries. If their messages are not heeded, one fine Election Day, maybe not the next but eventually, one or both of the big parties could very well be in for an unpleasant surprise.

The world over, and Malta is by no stretch of the imagination any different, the political class is quite content to preserve the status quo. It is, after all, in the establishment’s interest to retain a system that is beneficial to it, and keeping the masses as silent as possible about the real ills affecting their country.

But it is only when the public makes its voice heard loud and clear and en masse, as it did yesterday, that politicians will eventually be compelled to respond… or be voted out of office when the time comes.