The real environmental issues

Abstract

It is praiseworthy for the Nationalist Party to engage the major environmental exponents to try to identify the most pressing local environmental problems. Such a move is largely unprecedented, especially at party level. However, the presence of a small number of domineering exponents from the pro-development lobby, who dominated proceedings, has once again ensured that a skewed view of the environment prevails. I was engrossed in rebutting some of the preposterous proposals from the pro-development side. As a result, a number of issues were completely bypassed. There has not been a comprehensive commitment to protect our coastal and marine resources. Despite being an island, endowed with a 270-km-long coastline and a marine area over 20 times our terrestrial resources, we need to safeguard our marine resources from over exploitation. Spear-fishing takes place even within the marine protected area at Dwejra, and we have net fishing over popular wreck sites, such as Ċirkewwa.