Many were sceptical when the first green walls were installed, especially given the Labour administration’s track record on nature, particularly when it came to trees.

They seemed too much like a token gesture, a feeble yet costly attempt at greenwashing. Just a handful of years later, that cynicism has been rewarded.

From the beginning of their installation, there were questions about the plants being used, what would be needed to maintain them and how they would fare in the unrelenting, harsh heat that has now become a staple of our weather.

Fast forward a few years and we learn that the vertical gardens in Mosta, Marsa and Corradino industrial estates will be taken down because the cost of watering them and keeping them alive outweighed any environmental benefit. This conclusion was reached by the government agency INDIS against a backdrop of government agencies squabbling over whose job it was to take care of them to begin with.

This would be bad enough; however, what makes it even worse is that this very costly environmental experiment cost taxpayers a reported €600,000.

Instead of paying lip service to the idea of a green Malta in the form of flashy green walls which people get glimpses of when they are stuck in traffic, wouldn’t it make more sense to replace them with trees or our ever trusty Oleander hedges?

And while we are it, why aren’t we growing endemic plants wherever possible and creating more green areas for people to enjoy? Caper Bushes, Rock Centaury (Widnet il-Baħar), Samphire, Maltese Cliff Orache, Maltese Sea Lavender and Maltese Hyoseris used to be widely spread throughout our islands and don’t need the volume of water and maintenance that other plants might need. There are even alien but climate-appropriate succulents which grow exceptionally well and require very little attention.

We need to work within the confines of what we have, not what we don’t have, and what we don’t have is vast amounts of water with which we can lavish vegetation. You don’t need to be a gardener or a botanist to be able to see that our climate is getting warmer.

Even if we decide to stick to ‘green walls’ there are options.

Conservation expert Alfred Baldacchino said covering walls with ivy would be a good venture commercially while also having a positive impact on the local biodiversity.

“Its aesthetic value in countering the glare of the ever-increasing number of tall white buildings can also help reduce stress, especially when people are caught in traffic jams,” he said.

Other sustainable alternatives could include ground-level gardens with native species, shade structures with climbing plants, or traditional solutions like rubble walls that naturally support local biodiversity while requiring minimal maintenance.

It’s hard not to see these green walls as an extended metaphor for the way things are done in this country. Significant amounts of taxpayers’ money are spent on short-sighted, showy ideas, which ministers unveil to show the electorate that work is being done. Then, the usual lack of long-term follow-through happens, with much confusion and finger-pointing about who shoulders the responsibility. In the end, nothing is concluded, and, when enough time passes, the initial expensive idea is completely scrapped. Or the project naturally dies.

It’s a shame that a concept that could have been so promising has come to this but that is what you get when you put appearances ahead of actual ecological positive impact. Better planning that focuses on sustainability is needed.