The future of Birdlife’s Simar nature reserve in Xemxija is under threat due to wrong development policies that are changing an area of dwellings across the street into a massive block of seven-to-eight-storey apartments.
Birdlife officials were addressing the media in front of one of two planning applications approved in May, situated just 20 metres away from the reserve’s entrance.
The NGO said it will be appealing the PA’s approval of the “exaggerated developments”, which shall impact the reserve’s ecological status and diminish the educational value annually provided to thousands of visitors.
Birdlife said it is committed to taking all the necessary action to stop the development, including taking the case to court.
Simar Nature Reserve was first designated as a nature reserve in 1991, as plans to build a theme park were diverted to give space to nature at the interface between Pwales Valley and Xemxija Bay, which would have naturally been a saline marshland.
The reserve gained various designations over the years from a site of ecological importance to a wetland of international importance.
It is one of five remaining marshland areas in Malta, repristinated as a result of Birdlife’s interventions over the years.
A photomontage provided by Birdlife shows what the view from the nature reserve will be, should all developments in the area rise to the height of the one being proposed.Birdlife’s head of conservation Nicholas Barbara noted that the development had not been opposed by the Environment and Resources Authority and said it was disappointing to see an environment authority being “a spectator to this rape of our natural heritage”.
“We haven’t even seen the imposition of basic permit conditions to protect the reserve from the impacts of development. As dwelling by dwelling gives way to a large concrete block, it doesn’t take much imagination to see how this shall impact through dust, noise, and even visually, the integrity of the reserve,” Barbara said.
A photomontage provided by Birdlife shows what the view from the nature reserve will be, should all developments in the area rise to the height of the one being proposed.The Simar reserve is the only site in Malta where species such as the common little bittern, common coot and little grebe breed have bred. The reserve was also an important stopover for large flocks of herons during migration.
“All this will become threatened with balconies higher than the trees such herons seek refuge in, and with an agglomeration of people crammed in an area which will bring with it, noise, light and traffic, to mention just a few of the impacts,” Birdlife’s head of land management, Mark Gauci, said.
Birdlife CEO Mark Sultana said the country’s public authorities were not working for the common good because they were not functioning in full autonomy from businesses and politicians.
“We have policies that were wrongly enacted and are destroying our open spaces and natural areas... we have an economic model that does not give any weighting on our natural capital and our citizens’ well-being,” he said.
Birdlife is supported by environmental NGOs Friends of the Earth, Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar, Ramblers, Din l-Art Ħelwa, Nature Trust-FEE, Għawdix and Moviment Graffitti. The ENGOs will be meeting the Prime Minister on June 23.
In the meantime, BirdLife Malta will be challenging the development permits at the Environment & Planning Review Tribunal (EPRT) and in court.
Corrected June 14, 2023: A previous version incorrectly described a photomontage as showing the impact of the proposed development. It shows the impact should all buildings on the street rise to the same height as the approved one.