Gozitans, protect the environment

The recent protest in Gozo against the uprooting of the Marsalforn road trees reminded me of a cover story in Time entitled ‘The Greening of Toronto’ (June 23, 1975).

“Toronto is the first major North American city to say no to a building boom and to reject what Marshall McLuhan has called the ‘cult of moreness’.

Trees on the arterial road between Victoria and Marsalforn. Photo: Google Maps

“In his first inaugural address (1972), mayor David Crombie said: ‘We won’t be widening streets or chopping down trees to make way for more cars. The election results said Torontonians have an instinct to preserve their neighbourhoods from the inroads of choking traffic or shattering development. When history looks at our city, I have but one wish, that it will see the greening of Toronto and say: There, there is where it turned.’”

I’d like to see Gozitans rising to protect their environment and declare: “This is where the tide turns. We won’t be widening streets or chopping down trees to make way for more cars.”

John Guillaumier – St Julian’s

Drone operations

The initial popularity associated with drones was related to their use as toys. Today, they have developed to a point where commercial applications are both practical and financially viable.

Commercial uses for drones now go beyond photography to include mapping, data gathering, tracking criminal suspects and delivery services. Part of the attraction is cost savings, which explains why the commercial drone market is expected to grow.

It was only recently that parliament enacted a law that extensively regulates air navigation and ostensibly provides for better regulation of drone operations. However, perhaps the time has come for Transport Malta to signal concerns over the security implications of drone use by updating its policies.

Better regulation would be to have in place different sets of rules distinguishing between recreational drone flyers, commercial operators, public safety or government users and educational users. Despite some initial progress in defining regulations for drones, there are many specifics left to be decided. For example, it may take Transport Malta years to decide how to regulate drone-based package delivery.

The laws dictating drone operations will be necessarily complex to account for all the ways drones are currently used and how they could be used in the future. Coming up with laws that enable innovation but restrict infringements on privacy and misuses of airspace will be incredibly difficult but necessary.

Japan’s Drone Act of 2015 is the most comprehensive legislation regulating drones and related issues. Surprisingly, it even provides for balloons, hang gliders, paragliders, rotorcraft, gliders, airships and any other apparatus used for air navigation that cannot accommodate any person on board and can be operated by remote control or autopilot technologies.

The SESAR Joint Undertaking, a public-private partnership that coordinates EU research activities in air traffic management, has long been insisting on the need for EU member states to have in place a drone register to ensure privacy and safety.

There is a fine line between the benefits of using drones and their possible misuse. Requiring drones to identify and authorise themselves before they can fly, which could be achieved by fitting them with SIM cards, could help to protect people’s privacy by providing an effective way to register both users and machines.

Undoubtedly, Malta must follow suit. It cannot be excluded that, one day, Malta might become a drone nation where everything and everyone is remotely controlled.

Mark Said – Msida