A deal reached between the Maltese government, the Lands Authority and the hunters’ federation FKNK for the latter to administer land at Miżieb and l-Aħrax areas as hunting reserves, was declared illegal by a Court of Appeal earlier this week.

Mintoff ruled that the 9 October 2020 deal signed between the State and the FKNK was “null and without effect” because it had not been carried out according to the formalities of the law in force.

The Appeals Court said the Lands Authority had no right at law to concede to the FKNK a “personal right” to manage these sites without a formal process mandated by law.

Judge Lawrence Mintoff also observed that hunting in Malta was an emotive issue for many, and said that the Lands Authority was expected to have made a more rigorous examination as to whether these countryside parcels could be therefore entrusted to the FKNK within the parameters of the law.

The decision is a major one in the grander scheme of Malta’s environment.  NGOs and environmentalists alike had railed against the government’s initial agreement with the FKNK, which came totally unannounced and without any form of consultation back in 2021.

The declaration to annul the agreement shows that the government did not follow the law, despite the fact that we are talking about two of the most significant pieces of natural environment which the country has left.

It confirms that the government acted in bad faith towards the public when it gave the right of administration for these two massive tracts of land to a lobby group for what is effectively their own personal hobby.

Public spaces are there to be enjoyed by everyone, at all times. This was something even said by Environment Minister Miriam Dalli on Friday in comments to The Malta Independent. And yet, after this agreement was signed, that was not the case.

Indeed, the FKNK closes off access of part of these areas during hunting hours in the hunting season for “safety reasons”, meaning that families wishing to enjoy the environment must seek other pastures to do so.

The hunting lobby tends to make the argument that unlike other NGOs, the area is not locked up and ring-fenced.  The reference is clearly to their arch enemies BirdLife Malta who administer nature reserves – which are indeed closed to the public on the most part. 

However this argument doesn’t really hold any water: BirdLife Malta’s nature reserves are far smaller in area than Mizieb and Ahrax, and quite frankly if that’s what it takes to save protected birds from being shot out of the sky by hunters themselves, then it is worthwhile.

The question now is what is next for Mizieb and Ahrax.  The government had remained coy on what it will do now, merely saying that it had noted this week’s court judgement. 

What should happen is quite simple: the areas should become national parks, open for all to enjoy at all hours and at all times. 

Like there are park rangers taking care of the Majjistral National Park, similar people should be appointed to do so in order to maintain these areas as well.

One of the government’s pre-election rallying cries was that it would be a greener government. This is one of its first major tests of the legislature.