Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/685221
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 29 MAY 2016 40 This Week No-one knows what Salina looked like originally, people have meddled there far too long. It was even a Roman port once, but the place silted up from years of accumulation of soil carried down the valleys by rainwater. Meanwhile the marshes were drained and turned into fields, and the 16th century saltpans at the mouth of the estuary further changing the geography; in recent decades the Qawra conurbation smothered the rest of the surrounding area. So how can Salina possibly be a Natura 2000 site? The reason is that the place still harbours some very rare habitat – namely a brackish canal and bits of saltmarsh and reedbed – which are home to an interesting flora and fauna, including species found only at this site; and the saltpans themselves are a magnet to tired waterbirds on migration. But Salina is seriously degraded, and what it now needs is some long-overdue tender loving care by people with foresight and nature-friendly priorities. This will be the kiss of life that will stimulate Salina's biodiversity to flourish. GREEN IDEA OF THE WEEK 411: CHOOSE MATCHES OVER LIGHTERS: Most lighters are made out of plastic and filled with butane fuel, both petroleum products. Since most lighters are considered "disposable," over 1.5 billion end up in landfills each year. When choosing matches, pick cardboard over wood. Wood matches come from trees, whereas most cardboard matches are made from recycled paper. Visit Friends of the Earth's website for more information about our work, as well as for information about how to join us. You can also support us by sending us a donation - www.foemalta.org/donate Text and photo Victor Falzon 508. SALINA Consider this. The average person in Africa emits 11 times less carbon dioxide than someone in the UK, and 21 times less than someone in the United States. So the real issue is high consumption of fossil fuels in richer countries such as the United States, Japan and the UK. Rich countries are home to just a fifth of the world's people but have pumped out four-fifths of the Earth's greenhouse gases since 1751. So it's up to rich countries to make cuts first – and fast It's a common thought: what's the point of Malta taking action when China's emissions are increasing so fast? It is true that some emerging economies are major producers of greenhouse gases, and we need global action to sort this out. But when you look at emissions per person, a different picture emerges. An individual in the United States, for example, produces 17 times more emissions than someone in India. Things to know about Climate Change 4 – The answer is not fewer people. It's about a fair share for everyone Minister joins chorus of disapproval MARLENE Farrugia's call for a moratorium on large-scale de- velopments might seem rather extreme, until one reads the proviso: "until a master plan is in place". This position is shared not just by eNGOs like Flimkien għal Ambjent Ahjar but also by Richard England, the Chamber of Architects and now even Finance Minister Ed- ward Scicluna. In approving the policy to al- low high-rise buildings in Malta, the gov- ernment had ignored the basic tenet for liveable towns – that all developments must be supported by adequate public transport and utilities – water, electric- ity and often-overlooked drains. Indeed, MEPA's Chicago consultant on tall build- ings had concluded that Malta lacks an efficient public transport system, key to successful tall buildings, as are parking facilities, pedestrian and bus links. Our inadequate utility infrastructure – elec- tricity, water and drains – also needs to be upgraded in order to meet the needs of the high-rise blocks. This report noted: "Both commercial and residential high-rises are not jus- tifiable from a strict economic point of view... developers are proposing specu- lative projects to make quick money de- spite the high degree of vacancy rates in existing dwelling units at present." This was echoed by Finance Minister Edward Scicluna just this week: "Developers are trying to compete with large-scale pro- jects irrespective of demand." MEPA itself admits "ill-designed tall buildings can erode local character and distinctiveness, particularly of historic areas, and can create problems at street level affecting vitality and amenity and the microcli- mate. They can create trans- portation and infrastructure bottlenecks, especially in in- tensive commercial develop- ment, and social problems in high density, low-cost residen- tial schemes. They also present challenges in evacuation and fire-fighting situations. Tall buildings are very expen- sive to construct and maintain. Inflexible designs and inability to adapt to different uses can turn them into costly, disap- pointing experiments." In view of these pitfalls, the FAR (tall buildings) policy had been unofficially suspended and the SPED (Strategic Plan for the Environment and Development) Objectives stated, "[w]hile tall buildings may increase the efficiency of land use if they are actually occupied and may contribute marginally to the provision of open space, their impact on the Mal- tese landscape is becoming a matter of concern". Yet the policy was legislated without any studies that prove its neces- sity or suitability to Malta and the public is shocked to see a new skyscraper being proposed every week. These projects are located in the congested Sliema-Paceville area which is already overdeveloped and gridlocked, certainly not a place where companies would be likely to set up of- fices. Although the tall buildings policy stipu- lates that studies should be carried out to "consider the effects on the microclimate and seek to reduce overshadowing, diver- sion of high-speed winds to ground level, heat islands and glare, especially on pub- lic spaces and neighbouring properties", how will the studies be assessed since the Planning Authority does not have staff qualified to assess tall structures? Simi- larly, tall building design is subjective, and often based on artists' impressions or photomontages which can be manipu- lated to show a lesser impact. Malta has already had one bad expe- rience with tall buildings, which has produced the living corpse facing the Addolorata Cemetery. The Montebello Syndrome – grow greedily fast and fail fast, bringing down the neighbourhood and honest investors with you – has failed once; is this government going to allow it to undermine the health, economy and environment of the rest of Malta? Astrid Vella is the coordinator of Flim- kien Ghal Ambjent Ahjar Astrid Vella Living corpse: The A3 Towers in Paola, developed by the Montebello brothers