The Environment and Resources Authority is in many cases a dog without teeth, and it does not have the same authority as the Planning Authority in Malta, CEO of BirdLife Malta Mark Sultana said.

The Malta Independent spoke with Sultana (the first part of the interview was carried in The Malta Independent on Sunday yesterday) about the site managed by the NGO, the bird sanctuary at Simar, which is currently being threatened by the development of an eight-storey block located just 20 metres away from the reserve.

The Simar in St Paul’s Bay is a Natura 2000 site, a Special Protection Area, a Site of Community Interest, a Site of Scientific Importance, and an Area of Ecological Importance.

Asked about this, Sultana said that this is a symptom of a big problem we have in the country, being the problem of size.

“Due to Malta being small, Natura 2000 sites are very close to urban sites. The problem is that these urban areas are not treated differently than other urban areas, as they should be,” Sultana said.

He said that someone building in Pwales, for example, must understand that the space is valuable, but the country does not give any value to it, Sultana said.

“What happened is that the local plans have allowed for urban areas to build up to a certain number of stories, and instead of ERA declaring the project as unfit to be situated so close to a Natura 2000 site, it sides with the Planning Authority and assumes the stance that since the PA regulations allows it, then the only problems to look out for is light or noise pollution,” Sultana said.

Sultana said that as a flagbearer of an environmental authority, ERA should always be on the side of nature.

“Politicians in our country are very eager to use the word ‘balance’ but ERA does not have the same authority that the PA does. Why shouldn’t ERA have a veto vote in these circumstances, such as in ODZ land, or close to a Natura 2000 site?” he said.

Sultana said that in that particular project, as well as for others, these authorities go around all the loopholes for a project so that they wouldn’t need an environmental impact assessment.

“This shows that we do not have an authority to put a stop to the development near such a site. All we can do is put pressure on them,” he said.

Sultana spoke about illegal hunting in Malta, which has always been rampant, adding that the trend is on the increase, and it will remain on the increase due to attitudes inherited by previous governments.

He said that hunters or people who owned illegally protected birds were given amnesties to pardon such ownership, which resulted into the ownership of an overwhelming number of 500,000 birds collected. Sultana said that only around 30,000 of these birds have been vetted by government, creating a massive chaos.

Sultana said that people are willing to pay thousands to be able to say that they have a certain bird in their collection, which is where hunters come in and shoot birds, sometimes illegally, for revenue.

With Ministers such as Gozo Minister Clint Camilleri, who have shown their stance in favour of spring hunting during their political campaigns, Sultana was asked if there will be the pushing of more regulations which favour hunters.

“Over the years, the laws and regulations designed to protect birds have been dwindling and weakening to make sure that even someone who is caught doing an illegality, there is a big chance that they will get away with it because of a lot of loopholes,” Sultana said.

Sultana said that there are people making money from shooting illegal birds.

“I have no problem saying that canvassers of Clint Camilleri are actually some of these people. If you look at photos of his campaign, he is surrounded by some hunters, some of which even have court cases due to illegalities,” Sultana said.

“We cannot see a light at the end of the tunnel, we will keep on seeing these illegalities. Our only hope are the local courts and the European Union,” he said.