Gaia Foundation efforts to manage Ramla l-Hamra

Between December 2001 and April, 2002, a total of 1,950 trees and shrubs were planted at Ramla l-Hamra and a drip irrigation system was set in place in most of the area for plants to be watered on a weekly basis, the executive director of the Gaia Foundation, Rudolf Ragonesi, said.

Access points were sealed in order to prevent illegal vehicular access to the beach and organic waste at Ramla was being reused as fodder by a local farmer.

Dr Ragonesi was speaking at a ceremony during which Bank of Valletta made its final payment under its sponsorship of the integrated coastal zone management project.

The Ramla l-Hamra management plan was sponsored by the bank as part of its Millennium Project, which included the sponsorship of two other projects - the restoration of Christ the King monument in Floriana and the armoury at the palace in Valletta.

Speaking to George Portanier, chairman of the BOV millennium committee during a visit by its members to Ramla Bay, Dr Ragonesi said that in spring and summer 2000, a plan was drawn up to cover the management of the Ramla l-Hamra site.

Besides protecting areas of ecological, archaeological and scientific importance by minimising the exposure to humans, the project sought to promote environmental awareness and protection.

The work entailed the placing of a number of signs along the sand dunes, informing the public of their protected status, the employment of a part time warden on site to disseminate information about the site and to provide site maintenance and security, the introduction of safety lines in the bay in order to assist bathers in rough weather, which caused dangerous and often fatal underwater currents, and the installation of billboards containing information on Gaia's initiatives to conserve the nature of the site.

However, an environmental lobby group pointed out that not everyone was supporting the foundation's efforts. Nature Trust yesterday, by coincidence, issued a statement condemning the opening of a makeshift parking area on the clay slopes overlooking Ramla.

It said that this would exacerbate the erosion of such slopes during the rainy season.

The opening of such parking areas on the fringes of ecologically important areas was a growing phenomenon, NT noted, and was also evident on the clay slopes behind the Red Tower at Ghadira, on the dune remnants at Gnejna and on the garigue at Paradise Bay.