Controversy flares over draft law permitting lighting at Dwejra until midnight

A group of NGOs have condemned a draft legal notice that they claim will allow lighting to be legally introduced up until midnight at Dwejra, and contains a 'loophole that will legitimise any existing illegal lighting'.

The draft legislation, dubbed the Dwejra Protection and Management Regulations, was opened for public consultation on Tuesday. The public will be able to submit their comments until 3 March.

The group of NGOs mainly took issue with the fact that the legal notice states that within the protected site, “lights on land shall be switched off between midnight and sunrise”.

They argued that this would clash with the Gozo and Comino Local Plan, whose policy on Dark Sky Heritage Areas states that there should be no lighting on the site.

“This law does not protect Dwejra. It vandalises it. It is a calculated assault on the last remaining dark site of the Maltese Islands, dressed up in green language to hoodwink the public,” they said on Wednesday in a joint statement

The local plan states that Dwejra is a Dark Sky Heritage Area where “the installation oflighting which is not related to aerial or maritime navigation,shall be strongly discouraged”.

“Darkness is not an optional aesthetic feature to be negotiated away – it is the very essence of what makes Dwejra unique, scientifically valuable, and ecologically irreplaceable,” they said. 

The legislation also states that the “installation of any new permanent external lighting fixtures on land shall be prohibited unless permitted by the Authority”.

"This is not protection. This is a loophole large enough to drive a floodlit truck through it! Its real intention is obvious: to legitimise existing and so-called 'non-permanent' illegal lighting, allow it to remain, and pave the way for further degradation through exceptions," they said.

Some members of the NGOs were on the Dwejra Steering Committee and opposed this “atrocity,” but the government instead chose to “plough over everyone,” they added.

They also flagged that the draft legislation proposes reducing the NGO representatives on the committee to one, and to remove Malta’s delegate to UNESCO.

"This is a textbook case of environmental double-speak: a government pretending to care while doing the exact opposite; claiming protection while authorising destruction; invoking sustainability while rubbishing scientific advice and common sense," they said.

The group appealed to Environment Minister Miriam Dalli to "urgently change course" and also for Gozo Minister Clint Camilleri to safeguard Gozo’s identity and heritage by speaking out against this draft legislation.

They also appealed to the public to contribute to the public consultation and insisted that lights at Dwejra must remain switched off between sunset and sunrise.

Birdlife Malta, Din l-Art Ħelwa, Din l-Art Ħelwa Għawdex, Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar, Friends of the Earth Malta, Għawdix, Moviment Graffitti, Ramblers Malta, The Astronomical Society of Malta, Wirt Għawdex, and Nature Trust Malta signed the statement.

In March 2025, 15 academics and NGOs urged the authorities to enforce nighttime blackouts.