Uprooting mature trees in private properties is a sad symptom of the wider environmental problems caused by the construction industry in Malta. Are trees in private gardens less worthy of our care than trees in public spaces?
I ask this question after witnessing two painful scenes of environmental destruction. The first, a digger pulling out a lemon tree in full bloom from a construction site in Gżira. The second, a four-storey-tall tree being pulled from its roots at a property in Sliema.
It seems that there is no recognition of the role that house gardens play in providing a habitat for wildlife and the purification of air in our cities and towns.
I ponder to what extent we are letting go of green spaces for redevelopment of built-up areas. The scene of the lemon tree in Gżira is just one example of a growing number of construction projects that are killing trees in Malta.
Planning permission notices stuck to the walls of construction sites give no account of trees that will be uprooted because of new development plans. Only façades are being protected in urban conservation areas, under the preservation of the architectural heritage of our towns.
While this is an important asset that we must indeed guard, we ought to question why we do not have the same consideration for privately owned green environments and what the consequences of this might be in the long term.
The Environment and Resources Authority (ERA) protects any “mature trees over 50 years of age that are found in urban, public, open spaces” (trees and woodlands protective legislation 549.123, approved in 2018).
Limiting the protection of trees to solely those planted in public spaces puts in danger mature trees grown in private gardens which are important agents in the biodiversity of urban areas.
A shining example of this is the mature garden of the Sliema villa at 103, Triq Manuel Dimech and Triq Parisio, which is facing demolition for the construction of 32 lock-up garages and 18 apartments (PA/09273/19).
Uprooting mature trees in private properties is just part of the larger problem with the construction industry in Malta. The lack of protection of trees and mature private gardens is upsetting the balance between built and green spaces, leading to an overbuilt landscape.
Losing these green spaces in the core of residential areas will undoubtedly have a negative impact on the wildlife in urban areas as well as affect the quality of life of residents, making our localities less resilient to health risks and climate change.
As the pandemic has taught us, the comfort of our homes greatly depends upon external environmental factors. Having nature around us supports our general sense of well-being, making our homes truly a place to rest.
Since land in Malta is an expensive commodity, any square metre is a potential commercial asset. Developers have shown, time and again, that they will not retain open green spaces unless there is legislation protecting the balance between the built and natural environment in our towns.
Malta must work much harder to protect every green space we have- Paula Guzzanti
As citizens, designers and politicians, we need to work together towards a vision of Malta that embraces the natural environment, as opposed to letting profit-driven developers design our landscapes.
One successful model adopted by many European cities is the embrace-the-tree design which allows the construction of dwellings while protecting mature trees. Such initiatives required that the Planning Authority works in collaboration with those who are responsible for caring for the environment.
The construction industry is the principal agent in the transformation of our natural and urban environments, though we can see their goals are for profit rather than environmental sustainability.
Since the Planning Authority is the chief mechanism to rein in the potentially destructive aims of industry, they must decide what’s best for our environment.
They must do this with the specialist advice of agencies that put the environment first. We need an inter-institutional and creative approach if we want to safeguard our natural heritage.
Taking the local context to the international level, we are only eight years away from the deadline of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable and Inclusive Development.
If we are going to take seriously the challenge to “make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable” (Goal 11), Malta must work much harder to protect every green space we have.
In the 2018 voluntary national review on the efforts to achieve the 2030 Agenda, the only action Malta reports as working towards promoting green spaces is the conversion of the Ulysses Grove site at Xewkija into a recreational green public space for families.
How can it be that, in the context of so many polemic infrastructure projects that put nature at risk, the Maltese government is only proposing to work on one single site in the span of a 12-year plan? Surely the Maltese government can do more to protect and grow our green environments.
Creating legislation to protect mature trees and gardens in building sites is a critical move towards preserving our trees and maintaining the balance between built and green open spaces in Malta. It needs to be undertaken urgently before more environmental damage is done.
Paula Guzzanti Ph.D lectures in choreographic practices at the University of Malta. Her artistic work brings together socially engaged research using movement improvisation, performance, screendance and somatic activism (activism informed by the body’s sensorial capacity).