Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1148959
8 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 28 JULY 2019 NEWS Position may be co-funded through European Union Funding/Bilateral Funds EU FUND SUPPORT OFFICER Applications are invited for the positions of EU Fund Support Officer in the Ministry for European Affairs and Equality. Applicants must be in possession of a recognised qualification at MQF Level 5 in Accounting, Business Management or Banking or a comparable professional qualification. Applications will be received at the Corporate Services Directorate, Ministry for European Affairs and Equality, 31B, Tal-Pilar, Marsamxett Road, Valletta, VLT 1850 by not later than noon of Friday, 2 nd August, 2019. Further details may be obtained from the Government Gazette of 19th July 2019. Application forms may be downloaded from: https://publicservice.gov.mt/en/people/Pages/PeopleResourcingandCompli ance/FormsandTemplates.aspx JAMES DEBONO A thriving frog population has forced the environ- ment agency to carry out rehabilitation works by hand at the Wied Liemu water channel in Rabat. The painted frog is Mal- ta's only amphibian but the species has shown a worrying decline with the biggest threat coming from the destruction of its habitat. Government agency Ambjent Malta is now planning to restore the one-kilometre-long Wied Liemu to its original state through the manual removal of silt, the repair of channel walls and the construction of arches using local globigerina limestone. Wied Liemu is an upstream tributary that flows into the Wied il-Fiddien and Wied il- Qlejjgħa valleys. Due to lack of maintenance, the channel is silted up lead- ing to localised flooding that results into exacerbated soil loss from the adjacent agricul- tural land. Most parts of the channel walls are damaged and some sections of the walls have practically disappeared. The channel is inhabited by ruderal plants and numerous specimen of the painted frog (Discoglossus pictus). The presence of these frogs means that works have to be carried out in a meticulous manner to limit any impact on the amphibians. The removal of material will be carried out manually and using handheld tools to lessen the impact on the fauna and limit damage to the existing structures. Ambjent Malta will also en- sure that interventions will be carried out during the sum- mer period, when the channel dries out and the frogs retreat into damper places away from the exposed parts. The rehabilitation of this valley will also include the re- placement of various con- crete bridges with arched limestone ones. Malta's only amphibian The painted frog inhabits several Mediterranean coun- tries but the species found lo- cally is only present in Malta and Sicily. This species is, however, showing a worrying decline. The biggest threat for the frog in Malta comes from the destruction of its habitat. The highest numbers of frogs occur at Chadwick Lakes. Chadwick Lakes also pro- vides the highest number of adjacent suitable habitats and a higher possibility for migra- tion of the species to other lo- cations. The frog population at Tal- Wej in Mosta is the most vul- nerable since the area and its catchment is almost totally surrounded by urbanisation, eliminating any possibility for the species to migrate to adja- cent areas. Lower precipitation is con- sidered as a major threat to the species. Another probable threat is the use of pesticides that poison the creature and its food. The painted frog is also facing the threat of alien amphibian species that could push it out of its habitat. This has happened in some sites in Gozo where an alien species, the Levant water frog, was introduced some years ago. JAMES DEBONO A plot adjacent to the Handaq land controversially awarded to property owner Mark Gaffarena in the Old Mint Street scandal, is now earmarked for a massive solar farm. Gaffarena has been awarded a permit to erect 3,332 photovoltaic panels on 860 greenhouses, over an 11,000sq.m tract of agricultural land. The entire plot is 29,000sq.m, on which Gaffa- rena is also planning an agri-tourism complex. Next door is the 10,000sq.m plot handed to him in an illegal €1.65 million cash-and-land exchange for the government expropriation of his half-share in a Valletta palazzo that housed a government of- fice, in 2015. The land is being contested in a case instituted by the Prime Minister. Gaffarena's solar farm and agri-tourism project was objected to by the Environment and Resources Authority, which said the extent of the farm was incompatible with the surrounding rural context and would have a visual impact. "Proposals for such large-scale solar farms in the countryside should be discouraged until all alternatives within the development zone, industrial areas and similarly committed sites are exhausted," the ERA said. Through its green light, the Planning Authority also sanctioned various illegal structures which had been subject to planning enforcement since 2003; while also making it conditional that the greenhouses be used for agricultural production. Indeed, Gaffarena is a registered as a farmer till- ing over 71 tumoli of land. Trees will be grown along the road to minimise the visual impact of the fully demountable green- houses. The PA's rules encourage the develop- ment of solar farms on the roofs of buildings and inside disused quarries. In this case the solar farm is being approved on the basis of the rural policy which regulates greenhouse developments. According to the draft National Energy and Cli- mate Plan, the growth of the renewable sector in Malta has been stunted by planning policies which encourage the redevelopment of two or three-sto- rey buildings into multi-storey apartment blocks. This leads to an increase in the frequency and depth of shadowing of rooftops. With Malta still struggling to meet its commit- ments on renewable energy, the pressure to lo- cate solar power installations in the countryside has increased, simply because urban rooftops are increasingly shadowed by adjacent apartment blocks. Handaq solar farm near Gaffarena's contested land Wied Liemu water channel in Rabat Channel that is home to the painted frog to be restored