Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1407680
10 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 5 SEPTEMBER 2021 OPINION Raphael Vassallo 'The environment' is about more than just 'trees on roundabouts', you know… QUICK question: what is 'the environment', anyway? And what does it really mean to be 'an environmentalist'? Reason I ask, is that… well, this week the Nationalist Party pre- sented "seven proposals aimed at targeting shortcomings in the environment sector"; and according to Shadow Environ- ment Minister Robert Cutajar – who separately penned an ar- ticle this week entitled 'Action needed against climate change' - these proposals indicate that "the party is committed to bring about change that will safeguard the environment." Sounds great, doesn't it? Until, of course, you look at the pro- posals themselves… and realise that they must have been drawn up by people who have no idea what the word 'environment' even means (and evidently, without consulting any real en- vironmentalists, either.) How else are we to explain that most of these seven pro- posals are ultimately concerned only with urban embellishment projects… while spectacular- ly failing to even mention (let alone address) any of the more pressing problems facing Mal- ta's environment today? But in any case: here they are, so you can all judge for your- selves: 1. Develop a tree map and green score for every locality in Malta; 2. Invest in public spaces by making roads greener while also regenerating abandoned spaces on a local level; 3. Ensure there is a pedestri- an zone in every locality; 4. Protect farmers and their fields and strengthen urban bi- odiversity; 5. Strengthen the right to access to open public spaces and environmental sites; 6. National protection fund for historic buildings and gar- dens in our localities, and; 7. Incentivise environmental initiatives in residential homes. Now: I could probably write a full-length article (and you all know how long those can be) about each and every one of those proposals... but that way, I'd be left with seven articles saying more or less the same thing. So I'll limit myself to only two, for now. Trees, and pedestrianisation. I think we can all safely agree that no environmentalist, in his right mind, could possibly ob- ject to either of those propos- als: I myself, in fact, have spent years clamouring for more of both. The snag, however, is that these two problems – the lack of trees, and traffic congestion in town centres – cannot be viewed in isolation from other, existing environmental issues; and nor can they be limited on- ly to 'urban areas'. When, for instance, environ- mentalists complain about the need for 'more trees'… Ok, they might extend that to also include more public gardens, more urban green spaces, and all the rest of it… but what they really mean (if, that is, they tru- ly are environmentalists) is that what Malta needs are not just 'trees on roundabouts'… but af- forestation on a national scale. That is to say, large tracts of rural land, designated sole- ly for the purpose of growing trees: lots, and lots, and lots of trees (for if the purpose really is to 'mitigate the effects of cli- mate change'… we would need around half a million of them, just to get started.) Believe it or not, however: there is still the opportunity to implement a large-scale affores- tation programme – of the kind last undertaken in the 1970s: which gave us both Miżieb and L-Aħrax – in Malta today. For some time now, Qala mayor Paul Buttigieg has been arguing that Ħondoq ir-Rum- mien – not just the bay, but the whole valley extending upwards towards Nadur – should be re- stored to ODZ (as it was before the Local Plans were changed – you'll never guess by whom – in 2006). And this does not just mean that the whole area would once again be protected from the threat of development. It also means a reversal of the deci- sion, taken in 2006, to change the area's original designation from… wait for it… 'Afforesta- tion', to 'Marine-Related Activ- ity'. Yet neither the Nationalist Opposition, nor the Labour government, has come out in favour of that proposal. On the contrary, both have preclud- ed (citing the same, flawed ar- guments) any revision at all of the ill-fated 2006 Local Plan amendments… which implies that both government and Opposition agree with sim- ply keeping the development boundaries as they are today: not just at Ħondoq, but all over the rest of Malta and Gozo, too. So not only are both parties rejecting the idea of embark- ing on a proper afforestation programme, of the kind that is so sorely needed; but they both defend the 2006 extension of the development zones… which – coupled with roadworks and infrastructural projects - con- stitutes the single largest cause behind the depletion of Malta's trees to begin with. From this perspective, the idea to simply 'green up' Mal- ta's already-developed urban landscape - by planting a few roadside trees, and maybe in- augurating a couple of gardens here and there - sorry, but it's just not going to cut the mus- tard. Not only does it ultimate- ly amount to a classic case of 'greenwashing', and precious little else…. but (surprise, sur- prise) it is also what the current government happens to be do- ing right now anyway – look un- der 'Comino' and 'Balluta steps' for further details – and… um… … that is precisely why this government (and Environment Minister Aaron Farrugia in par- ticular) comes in for such harsh criticism, by environmentalists, all the time. Because environmentalists can see through these lame, cos- metic attempts to sweep issues under the carpet, you know. They recognise that 'public gardens' and 'green spaces' – commendable though they may be, in themselves – are nothing but eye-candy, intended to dis- tract public attention from this country's real environmental problems. Meanwhile, much the same could be said for the pedes- trianisation proposal. Yes, of course it would be lovely if we could all safely walk through our own towns and villages, without the threat of being run over, or having to inhale nox- ious emissions… … but in the absence of any major overhaul of our entire traffic system – involving, at minimum, an effort to reduce the number of vehicles on our roads; and (even more impor- tantly) the introduction of a public mass-transit system, to compensate for the loss of mo- bility - the pedestrianisation of town centres would only dis- place existing urban traffic to the outlying road network. We would, in a nutshell, end up with the same (growing) number of cars, only concen- trated in a much smaller space. And that means more traffic congestion, not less… and with it, more air pollution… more CO2 emissions… less chance of Malta meeting its international climate change targets… and so on, and so forth, and so fifth. But this only forces us to con- front the truly appalling aspect of this environmental green- wash. It's not merely about what those proposals contain… it's more about what they omit altogether. Those issues I just mentioned, for instance – you know: air pollution; CO2 emissions… and over-development, too (be- Launching PN 'Greens': Bernard Grech, centre, is flanked by Janice Chetcuti (left) and secretary-general Michael Piccinino