Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1380662
8 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 6 JUNE 2021 INTERVIEW It's never 'too late' to save Gozo In recent months, concern with the environmental degra- dation of Gozo seems to have reached an all-time high. To quote just one public figure (out of several): MEP Alfred Sant recently said that Gozo is 'at a crossroads', and that 'if we continue like this, there will be nothing left to save'. Do you agree with that state- ment? Or is it already 'too late to save Gozo'? The way I look at it: there is no fixed point, after which it be- comes 'too late'. If you go to a doctor and get diagnosed with a disease, he might say: 'You have this or that chance [of recov- ery]' But whatever the chances, doctors will always try to save you. They will never say: 'Forget it, bye…' So for me, there's no such thing as 'too late'. You have to always keep trying. We saw this happening in Malta, for instance; we saw how people there said, 'It's too late, it's too late'. And yet, the situation keeps getting worse; and people still complain about it. So had we taken action at some point in the past, we could have prevented a lot of environ- mental destruction in Malta. And I feel that we are now at the same point in Gozo: people here are realizing that they are not happy with how things are going; with all the changes that are happening around us. And already, there is a com- mon thread of people who say: 'What can we do? Gozo is already ruined.' We see this in online comments, and we hear people saying it in the streets. And OK: you can sit at home, saying 'It's too late'; you can complain about it to your friends, and on Facebook. But you can also try to do some- thing. And you never know: some- times, 'doing something' works. It is true that we read about new cases of environmental degra- dation almost on a daily basis; but sometimes, we also read about how certain development projects are, in fact, stopped be- cause of public pressure… … a case in point was the an- nouncement, this morning, that works on the Balluta fer- ry terminal have been stopped due to protests… Precisely. So even the smallest of these victories against devel- opment are a light in the dark- ness. They give us hope. I don't want to sound too idealistic… but, given the choice between sitting at home and saying 'it's too late', and at least trying to do something about it: I would choose the latter. Because it all accumulates, you know. Even just talking to people, even the small actions that you do every day… it all adds up, in the end. And besides: there is still a lot of Gozo that has remained unspoilt. I'm almost scared of saying that, mind you. Because a lot of damage has already been done; and the balance [between construction and environmen- tal protection] is already way skewed, as it is. I'm not happy about how things are in Gozo at all. That is in fact the reason why we started this organiza- tion. But it is definitely not 'too late' to save what's left… At the same time, however, overdevelopment is not really a new issue for Gozo. While it is true that certain recent pro- jects seem to have gone over- board… the reality is that plac- es such as Xlendi, Marsalforn, and others have long since lost their original character to development. So why is there such a lot of resistance, pre- cisely now? I honestly don't know what's so special about this moment, that made people suddenly 'wake up'. Because people have, in fact, been aware of the issue for years. My father, for in- stance, used to spend his sum- mers at Marsalforn. I remember him showing me photos of how it used to be, and how much of it had changed… long before the more recent developments. But the difference, I suppose, was that before, we didn't nec- essarily view those changes as a 'bad thing'. We might have said 'xi kruha' [How ugly] at seeing certain apartment blocks go- ing up – my own favourite part of Marsalforn, for instance, is Għar Qawqla… and when flats were built almost overlooking the beach, I remember my par- ents saying: 'What a shame… look how far they have built', etc. So I think that a lot of people in Gozo have this frustration, and have had it for a while. What has changed, however, is the sheer frequency with which we see projects nowadays: pro- jects which are completely ug- ly; which completely disrespect the surrounding area, and the well-being of people living in that area. It's just increased so much… That, at any rate, is how it feels from my perspective, as a 20-something year old living This week heralded the emergence of 'Ghawdix': the first environmentalist NGO to focus specifically on Gozo. But as founding member (and PRO) JULIA CAMILLERI explains: the threat comes not just from development; but also from a mentality that is 'unconnected with nature' Raphael Vassallo rvassallo@mediatoday.com.mt JAMES BIANCHI