Environmental NGOs have said they are concerned by the lack of emphasis on protecting local biodiversity in the electoral manifestos of Malta’s two major political parties.

The group of seven NGOs said Malta – already the most built-up member state in the European Union – needed to urgently tackle habitat loss and the protection of maritime areas.

The Labour Party has focused its environmental proposals on a pledge to invest €700 million to develop urban ‘green lungs’ over a five-year period, while the Nationalist Party’s key environmental pledge is to demarcate 50,000 square metres of land as Outside Development Zone every year.

ENGOs said that both those proposals were unconvincing when it came to protecting biodiversity. Urban green areas were needed but would not counterbalance the destruction of natural habitats, it noted, while promises of increasing ODZ had to be complemented by changes to existing laws to fix ODZ loopholes.

Wildlife laws have already been weakened, they said, noting how the Environment and Resources Authority was stripped of its regulatory oversight of hunting and trapping to appease that lobby group “more than anything else.”

They called on political parties to commit to a number of environmental measures, from removing ODZ policy loopholes to ending derogations of the EU’s Birds Directive, stop land reclamation plans and set up eco-friendly moorings.

“Biodiversity deserves a place in all future plans and visions of the country and demand an end to the cosmetic promises approach of greenwashing projects which are not natural but simply infrastructural,” they said.

NGOs signing the statement

1. BirdLife Malta
2. Din l-Art Ħelwa
3. Flimkien Għal Ambjent Aħjar
4. Friends of the Earth Malta
5. Nature Trust-FEE Malta
6. Ramblers Association of Malta