ERA’s enlightenment

Anyone with a modicum of environmental sensitivity – or common sense, for that matter – would know that the last thing Dwejra needs is to be lit. The Environment and Resources Authority (ERA) and the Environment Ministry, however, think otherwise.

In the latest shot fired at what little remains of our natural environment, ERA has published a draft legal notice that feigns protection of Dwejra while condemning it to the blight of artificial light in one fell swoop.

Among other things, the draft proposes that: “lights on land shall be switched off between midnight and sunrise”; “the installation of any new permanent external lighting fixtures on land shall be prohibited unless permitted by the Authority”; and “the competent authority may impose in a phased approach, the shielding of existing external lights such that the light is directed downwards in a manner which does not allow light emissions above the horizon and which does not have a correlated colour temperature (CCT) of more than 2700 Kelvin”.

At first glance, one might be forgiven for thinking this reflects a newly discovered sense of environmental responsibility. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The existing Gozo and Comino Local Plan already states – clearly and unequivocally – that Dark Sky Heritage Areas, of which Dwejra is one, should have no lighting unless required for aerial or maritime navigation. Simple. This new proposal, which has been condemned by every major environmental NGO in Malta, and academics from a wide range of faculties and institutes, effectively rewrites that protection: lighting would now be permitted until midnight. In winter, this means that the night would be illuminated for around seven hours – in a Dark Sky Heritage Area, no less! Let us unwrap what this actually entails.

First, we are expected to believe that vulnerable shearwaters – which are notoriously disoriented by artificial light – will simply cope. That they will somehow remain unaffected, perhaps by politely averting their gaze or keeping their eyes shut until ERA deems it acceptable that lights be switched off.

Second, the universe itself is expected to acquiesce to ERA’s ad hoc demands. Apparently, it should only reveal its wonders after midnight. What about all the celestial objects visible earlier in the night? Too bad. The laws of nature must bend to ERA’s arbitrary timetable and the whims of our environment ministry.

Third, public astronomy events – many of them aimed at children – would now have to take place after midnight. Events that once attracted families and schools would be rendered practically impossible. Which parent, or school, will send children out for extracurricular activities at one or two in the morning?

But the problems do not end there. The devil, as ever, lies in the details.

The real message is simple: the greedy can do whatever they want. The government will not only sanction their actions, it will enshrine them in law- Joseph Caruana

The second provision above refers only to “new” and “permanent” lighting, leaving an obvious loophole. Lights installed before the law comes into force would not be “new”, so the implication is that they would be exempt. And what, exactly, constitutes non-“permanent” lighting? Are bright, portable lights acceptable simply because they are not affixed to a wall?

Can ERA illuminate us (forgive the pun) on how this distinction makes any difference to wildlife – or to a young mind curious about the night sky? Pray tell, does a light become harmless if it is brought out at night and packed away during the day? Sure, this would tick the non-“permanent” box, but the environmental impact would be the same – and ERA knows this full well. And let us not gloss over the fact that lighting may, after all, be “permitted by the Authority” – an authority that presumably expects us to trust its stellar credibility, even as it blots out the stars themselves. This is the same authority whose guidelines on light pollution have remained stuck in draft stage since 2020. One wonders what diluted version of them will be presented, if they ever do end up seeing the light of day.

As for the third point, this effectively normalises lighting at Dwejra. I do not have the space here to tackle all the technical and scientific aspects; suffice to say that while such conditions may make sense in urban areas (and even here, they would need to be paired with clear regulations on luminous flux and improved colour metrics), they make no sense whatsoever in a Dark Sky Heritage Area, which by definition should remain unlit.

One might be tempted to believe that these issues were simply overlooked. They were not. Concerns were raised repeatedly. To mention but one example, in March of last year, a large coalition of NGOs and academic bodies had urged the authorities to enforce existing rules and ensure that no lighting be allowed between sunset and sunrise. This draft legal notice was issued in full knowledge of its consequences.

Small wonder, then, that the announcement was wrapped in a cynical exercise in greenwashing. To herald this disastrous proposal, two ministers, ERA’s top brass, and the mayor of San Lawrenz staged a stroll through Dwejra. They did so in the company of a group of young children, branding this an educational walk.

The gall. What an education!

Did they explain to those kids that they are being robbed of the very night sky they should have inherited? Did they explain to them the logic behind expecting vulnerable seabirds to read and comply with ERA’s new legal notice?

The real message is simple: the greedy can do whatever they want. The government will not only sanction their actions, it will enshrine them in law. It will rename the act “balance” or “compromise”, and recast the perpetrator as the “local community.” A leaf from the standard playbook.

So who benefits from this?

Not nature. Not schoolchildren. Not students of science. Not the public.

Once again, the Environment and Resources Authority and the Environment Ministry have outdone themselves in betraying the very first word in their titles.

The number of objections has been overwhelming. Will the powers that be do the right thing – for once?

Joseph Caruana is an astrophysicist at the Department of Physics and Institute of Space Sciences and Astronomy of the University of Malta. He is the recipient of Dark Sky International’s 2025 Dark Sky Defender Award for the Continent of Europe.