The way the government has capitalised on the loss of the Azure Window earlier this week shows that it is well and truly between a rock and perhaps several hard places. In this day and age of scandal after scandal and environmental faux pas after faux pas, the Dwejra debacle has provided the government with the perfect opportunity to further deviate the national discussion from its several messes while at the same time showing its sensitivity and concern for the country's natural patrimony.

It one thing to show concern and remorse that one of the country's most beloved natural features has been consigned to the annals of history, but it is quite another to have no less than four government ministers on two consecutive days holding joint press conferences on the situation.

Even the Prime Minister and erstwhile holder of the EU Presidency, engaged as he undoubtedly was with more important issues such as preparations for this week's EU summit and the election of a European Council president, even found time to mourn the loss of the Azure Window on an international news network.

All in all, the government's reaction was a pure case of overkill.  Now the genuine heartache is understandable. But then again this government has shown time and time again that has its finger firmly on the pulse of public sentiment, which has certainly not been lacking in respect to Dwejra since the news broke on Wednesday morning. And it was quick to realise that this was a huge public relations opportunity.

Hence the press conferences and the government's international call for suggestions to mark the fallen icon in a number of ways - ranging from artificially recreating the structure to using augmented reality to recreate the site, and from recovering parts of the structure from the seabed and putting them on display to doing nothing and just leaving the site as it is.

But to give credit where it is due, it must be said that the government has certainly acted fast on this occasion, much faster and certainly more efficiently than it has acted on other fronts.

The Azure Window may have been lost with one sudden almighty crash, but the fact of the matter is that its fabric has been slowing eroding away for a long time.  But the window was not alone in this slow erosion, the country's open spaces and countryside are also being insidiously eaten away and at an ever-increasing pace.

It was recently reported that an average of 500 Outside Development Zone permits were awarded annually between 2006 and 2015, and that the pace does not seem to be slackening at all, it is, in fact, increasing.

The Church yesterday hit the nail on the head when it advised politicians and the public at large to learn from the collapse of the Azure Window and to have a long, hard look at the way in which we are protecting, or rather not protecting, our natural heritage.

And just as there is no way of truly recreating the Azure Window, once virgin land is cemented over there is no turning back the clock. No amount of future restitution work will ever return it to what it once was. The die will be forever cast.

As the Church also observed yesterday, the Azure Window has been lost for good but it may result in a renewed effort to safeguard what we have left before it is too late.

A moratorium on all ODZ development has been proposed in the past, on a number of occasions, until a rational plan regarding the country's limited space is worked out.  That proposal has apparently been shunned by the powers-that-be.  Let us take a lesson from the fall of the Azure Window and give the concept further reconsideration.

The fall of the Azure Window may, after all, provide a window of opportunity for the rest of the country's natural heritage.