Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1511521
13 NEWS maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 15 NOVEMBER 2023 THE anger generated by the decision to uproot the ficus trees that have been grac‑ ing the car park next to Mosta's parish church is understandable. The trees are part of the locality's collec‑ tive memory apart from providing shade that helps lower the surface temperature in a hot climate like Malta. They also served as roosting sites for wagtails, spar‑ rows and other birds. Any decision to prune them to a bar‑ ren trunk and eventually uproot them for transport to a different location was bound to cause outrage, especially when government is constantly flaunting what it believes are its green credentials. The mere scene of barren trunks and disoriented birds flying around their van‑ ished roosting site led to an emotional re‑ sponse from ordinary people. This should have been foreseen by the Mosta council when it proposed the up‑ rooting of these trees to replace them with indigenous species as part of the main square's regeneration. Unfortunately, the council and its mayor have been conspicuous by their absence ever since bulldozers moved in and work‑ ers sawed off the branches. The public reaction was left to the Environment and Resources Authority that justified its deci‑ sion to give the plans a green light. ERA said the uprooted trees will be transplanted in another area in Mosta and replaced with Holm Oaks and Judas trees, whose roots are less invasive than ficus trees. There may be valid and practical reasons to justify the removal of trees from a lo‑ cation, or their replacement with other species. The roots of ficus trees are aggressive and cause damage to building founda‑ tions, road surfaces, pavements and un‑ derground services. It would make little sense to pave Mos‑ ta's main square, change all underground essential services, and ensure surfaces are flat and accessible for everyone, only to have these damaged within a couple of years because of the trees' roots. But none of this was explained to the public, leaving everyone questioning as to whether this was the latest bout of tree felling to satisfy someone's need to make a statement. If new, different trees make more sense for that particular location then it should be less of a problem to adopt the council's chosen course of action, controversial as it may be. The problem, however, with projects like these has always been that the replacement trees are saplings, which leave the space denuded for many years to come, rather than plant trees that would have matured to a certain level and which would provide better foliage cover in the shorter term. The Paola square regeneration is one such example. The square today provides a bigger and continuous space where peo‑ ple can meet and organise activities. The problem is that the trees planted instead of the mature ficus trees that had been re‑ moved are still growing thus providing no shade. It is obvious that planting more mature trees, specifically pruned for public are‑ as is costlier but it makes more sense to spend more and reap the benefits earlier. But there is also another consideration that cannot be dismissed easily. Trees, like buildings, are part of the urban fabric that gives a place its characteristics. They are part of the collective memory of a place. Removing them is like erasing a memory forever. This is why any decision to re‑engineer a public space by removing trees or replac‑ ing existing ones with different ones, has to be taken with extreme caution. It is absurd that the Mosta tree debacle led to the arrest of Graffitti activist Andre Callus during yesterday's peaceful action to stop workers from moving ahead with the tree‑chopping exercise. It has been a long time since activists have been arrest‑ ed during protests, which is also testament to the current administration's lack of sensitivity in situations like these. Greater sensitivity must be shown to the community and if works can be done in such a way that preserve existing tree landmarks the plans should be amended to incorporate the current landscape. The problem is that the lack of discus‑ sion with residents before the plans were put into action has created a situation of antagonism that clouds any form of prop‑ er judgement. The Mosta trees debacle maltatoday MaltaToday, MediaToday Co. Ltd, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 MANAGING EDITOR: SAVIOUR BALZAN EXECUTIVE EDITOR: KURT SANSONE EDITOR: PAUL COCKS Tel: (356) 21 382741-3, 21 382745-6 Website: www.maltatoday.com.mt E-mail: dailynews@mediatoday.com.mt more 'beneficial' does some‑ thing have to even be, before we finally get round to the idea that… hey, who knows? May‑ be 'preserving them', might be a better idea than just bloody 'DESTROYING them', at every single opportunity'? Just a thought… Meanwhile, however, we are no closer to answering that question I asked earlier. Be‑ cause while no real 'explana‑ tion' has ever been offered, for the removal of those Ficus trees from Mosta – the 'excuses', in‑ ter alia, were as follows: 1) "It's OK, because we're going to transplant these trees – the ones that survive the transplantation process, any‑ way – to another part of Mosta" (ERA); 2) "For every tree we uproot in Mosta, we promise to re‑ plant a trillion, trillion 'Znuber saplings', somewhere else (like, um, 'Wied Znuber')" (Labour government); 3) (Quoting the project ar‑ chitect this time, from an Au‑ gust 23 article): "I believe you cannot have seating areas with‑ out the shading of trees, so that is why we incorporated all the benches with trees. On the oth‑ er hand, in a square like this one, we were restricted because there is not enough space under the surface to create sufficient soil depths that can sustain large trees. We therefore had to limit landscaping to smaller trees and plants." Got that, folks? It seems that there just isn't enough 'soil‑ depth', under the surface of Mosta square, to 'sustain large trees'… even if, weirdly enough, the same square somehow DID manage to sustain quite a large number of 'large trees', until just the other day! (The ones that have just been chopped down, remember?) But in any case: what was the architect's 'solution', exact‑ ly, to this (let's face it: entirely 'non‑existent') problem? Why, "remove all the 'large trees' that already exist", of course; and "replace them with 'small‑ er ones'" (which, by definition, will only cast 'less shade'; 'ab‑ sorb less CO2', etc., etc., etc.)… See what I mean? What sense was that even supposed to make, anyway…? It gets a lot worse, however, when you consider that some people out there (including, but not limited to, the 'people of Mosta') happen to have had other reasons for wanting those trees to remain exactly where they were. After all, this is not just about 'climate change'; this is also – as Miriam Dalli correctly not‑ ed, a few months ago – about 'preserving our national mental state of health', no less! And just as I can't properly ex‑ plain the biological reasons, why trees manage to reduce heat so effectively… nor can I explain the precise cultural, sociolog‑ ical factors that cause certain people to attach so much 'val‑ ue', to the trees in their own en‑ vironment (so much more than they do the 'nettles', and the 'weeds', and the other examples of 'typical Maltese flora'...) What I can safely say, howev‑ er, is this. Part of this 'arboreal attraction' – this 'tree‑hugging' sentiment, if you will (to use a term I personally DETEST) – stems from entirely 'practical' considerations, you know. Just as anyone in his right mind would prefer walking in 26C, to 50C… no one is ever go‑ ing to be consoled, for the loss of sorely needed tree‑shade in their own neighbourhood, by being told either: a) "It's OK, folks! All Mosta's tree‑shade is now to be found in Santa Margherita Street, in‑ stead of Pjazza Rotunda… so… well, just go and wait for the bus there!"; or b) "Too bad! But hey, you'll be happy to know that ‑ thanks to all our national tree‑planting efforts – the temperature has now dropped by over HALF… in Wied Znuber…" Sorry, but: it just doesn't work like that, in practice. You can't simply 'replace a tree'…