Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/714702
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 14 AUGUST 2016 38 This Week Many fish are shaped like fish but many others come in unusual forms. Among the secong group of decidely unfish-like fish are the eels, of which a handful of species occur in the Mediterranean. These snake-like fish are largely grey affairs, with one notable exception: the moray eel. With its brown-and-gold mottled livery, the moray eel (M: morina) is an eye-catching creature and is always a highlight for the snorkeller. While the older individuals tend to venture deeper, young morays often inhabit shallow coastal waters; they like to skulk among rocks and reefs or hide in a hole or under a boulder with their head sticking out on the look out for prey. Morays have a rather fierce look, what with their stern hypnotic stare and toothy mouth often held half open. They are in fact quite territorial and if they feel cornered or threatened (or shot at with speargun!) they will dart out and bite. But they are also curious, and with care can be approached for a respectful, mutual gaze! GREEN IDEA OF THE WEEK 422: ADJUST YOUR THERMOSTAT: Adjust your thermostat one degree higher in the summer and one degree cooler in the winter. Each degree Celsius less will save about 10% on your energy use! 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 519. MORAY EEL There is a finite amount of land in the world, yet demand for it is growing. Europe has one of the highest resource consumption rates in the world, and our demand for land – our Land Footprint – is much higher than what the continent can supply. Friends of the Earth Europe have published a new report - The True Cost of Consumption: The EU Land Footprint, showing the scale and impact of the EU's high agricultural land demand. Average EU per capita cropland consumption is 1.5 times higher than the global average, and 40% of cropland and grassland used lies outside of Europe, highlighting an inequitable distribution of global land resources and an overstepping of planetary boundaries. Furthermore, the EU's Land Footprint poses growing environmental and social impacts outside of the EU – cropland expansion into natural land areas, land degradation, deforestation, biodiversity loss, land grabbing, unequal appropriation of land resources and more. It is a matter of justice that the EU takes responsibility for its overconsumption of land and acts to reduce the scale and intensity of its global land use. EU's Land Footprint - Introduction High-rise or high-risk? SEVERAL people this week have asked me why all this hul- labaloo about high- rise buildings. Isn't it better to build up than sideways? Won't these have a positive effect on our economy? Don't we want to be like Dubai or Singapore? Well now, wait a minute. It is true that space is at a premium in Malta, but with 44,000 empty dwellings (this figure excludes summer residences), shouldn't we be looking at rehabilitating them before we change our ur- ban landscape to the detriment of residents? Only 10% are in disrepair, as a significant num- ber have been built since the 90s and therefore are not caught in 1939 rents and inheritance dis- putes. Significantly, these hous- ing units are not being planned to accommodate Maltese resi- dents, very few of whom would be able to afford the purchase or maintenance fees - Dhalia CEO Chris Grech pointed out two weeks ago that it would be the global rich who would have to buy such expensive and upmar- ket properties. We are about to start build- ing towers, straining our en- ergy and sewage infrastructure, further gridlocking an already grievous traffic situ- ation, bulldozing residents' rights and permanently scar- ring our skyline, for the benefit of a few local speculators. So far so bad. But it gets worse. Let us take the Townsquare de- velopment. Social impact assessment? Dates from 2007 and does not consider the new MIDI towers and Fort Cambridge. As- sessments are being conducted with a piecemeal, haphazard approach. No further comment needed. Traffic impact assess- ment? Gives a flat number of cars that will be added (around 3,000), without assessing the actual impact these will have on the area. Environmental im- pact assessment's recommen- dations? "Residents, keep your window shut." Not to mention that the necessary reports were not uploaded to the website with enough time to allow ob- jectors to review them. The Mriehel development meanwhile is even more sinis- ter. After the public consulta- tion phase ended, Mriehel was added to the list of areas where high-rise development would be allowed. Surprise surprise, it is one of the very first of these projects being recommended for approval. It has been an- nounced that Mriehel will be considered in a second round of public consultation…after the project would have been ap- proved and excavation begun. There has been talk of Malta becoming like Singapore or Dubai. Even without looking at these countries' abysmal en- vironmental records and other problems arising when consid- ering dictatorial countries as role models, there are plenty of problems. Dubai has am- ple space to expand in previ- ously empty space. Singapore meanwhile has a very strong public transportation system, and heavy regulations on car use. Significantly, both places planned their development, and invested heavily in their infra- structure to support such de- velopment. Equally significant, neither place had a prior herit- age of architectural wealth like ours. Consider the words of Perit Godwin Cassar, former MEPA Chairman: "Tall buildings are popular now internationally, and Dubai and Shanghai are clear examples. There are dif- ferent scenarios to justify tall buildings. Malta does not fit well into any of these scenarios." There are other problems with such developments – a property bubble which can lead to a na- tional recession and the under- mining of our touristic product are two such issues. None of these problems is insurmountable. What we are adamant about are two things – that good, independent, holistic studies should be carried out and made easily available to the public, and that the local popu- lation is consulted, informed and has a say about where our precious country is heading. As polls last week showed, a clear majority of Maltese might not be too happy about where our leaders are taking us. Robert Louis Fenech 'Malta does not fit well into any of these scenarios'