an interview with martin galea de
giovanni, agriculture campaigner
"Moviment ghall-Ambjent, FoE Malta,
formerly 'Zghazagh ghall-Ambjent', has been
active in the environmental field since 1985.
The group was first set up as an umbrella
organization with representatives from
various youth and environmental groups, but
soon developed into a committee of
activists.
"This newly formed organization gained
popularity and increased media coverage
following an incident in November 1985 when
members of the group were attacked during a
protest against developments on the beaches
and in the countryside. Since then a series
of eye catching activities have been
organized in order to inform the public of
environmental threats. In 1991, Moviment
ghall-Ambjent became part of FoE
International.
"Joining FoE International has enabled us
to share environmental expertise and
experience with other members of the network.
We are also active in the MedNet subgroup of
FoE and have recently taken part in some very
interesting research on local
agro-biodiversity. Together with other
Mediterranean partners we will soon use this
research to increase environmental awareness
amongst local communities.
"Foe Malta has concentrated its energies
on the issues of land use, energy, pollution
and waste. The group has been successful in
opposing many major developments that
threatened to damage Malta's countryside and
coast.
"For the past two years I have been an
active member of FoE Malta. During this time
I have been responsible for the issues
relating to agriculture, biodiversity and
pollution. My lifelong interest in astronomy
has made me conscious of how precious our
little planet is. This planet is rare,
perhaps unique, in being a living planet. The
imprint of life is everywhere; including the
air we breath, which has acquired its rich
oxygen content as a result of millions of
years of acclivity by living organisms. Yet,
what has been built up over this huge
timescale is now being destroyed in a matter
of years by humans driven by the motivation
of profit.
"Just as our planet forms only a tiny part
of the universe, Malta, as a small island
nation, forms only a tiny part of our planet.
However with a population of 382,000 (1990)
it is one of the most densely populated
nations in the world. This has tremendous
effects and places immense pressure on the
Maltese natural environment.
protests against golf
course developments
Over the last 50 years, large tracts of
countryside have been sacrificed for tourism
and housing developments. Agricultural land
is scarce and the country only grows enough
food to feed 17 percent of the
population.
"FoE Malta has been busy battling one golf
course proposal after another, most of them
planned for areas of agricultural importance
or scenic beauty. Developers have been known
to threaten farmers in order to persuade them
to sell their agricultural land and the
government has relied on decisions made by
planning bodies with heavy input from the
tourism industry and no participation by
environmentalists.
Verdala hotel and Golf
Course
"One current proposal is to construct an
18-hole golf course, country club and luxury
hotel on prime agricultural land
that has
been farmed for hundreds of years and
provides 98 farmers with their
livelihoods.
"The golf course is an environmental
nightmare: it will infringe the EU's Habitats
Directive and will eventually consume as much
water as 11,000 Maltese people. To date,
Malta's Department of Agriculture has
remained silent about the project. The
coalition to stop the golf course -
campaigning under the motto "Agriculture, Not
Golf" - is broad, encompassing some 1,000
farmers as well as politicians,
environmentalists and students.
Read about the victory:
no golf
course
!
"Another major issue that is of great
importance to Malta is waste and recycling.
Unfortunately, local authorities have
previously neglected this problem and as a
result we have landfill of mountainous
proportions.
"Recently FoE Malta played a major role in
influencing the outcome of 'A Solid Waste
Management Strategy for the Maltese Islands'.
We argued for a system of waste separation at
source and opposed use of incineration as a
way of dealing with waste. We were able to
show that proponents of incineration were
basing their claims on false assumptions. As
a result, incineration was omitted as an
option (at least for the next eight years). I
consider this to be a big victory for FoE
Malta.
"Although local environmentalists have
been active for more than 20 years trying to
protect the Maltese environment, it is only
recently that the general public and the
authorities have started to understand the
importance of such issues. These
environmental issues are now featuring much
more prominently in political agendas. Whilst
we still have much to do I am of an
optimistic nature and I think that things are
moving, albeit rather slowly, in the right
direction. This is better than in the past
decades ..."
Read about Friends of the Earth Malta's
most recent
success
, stopping the creation of a
waste dump near a valuable heritage site.
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