It might be a lone carob tree, it might be an area within existing development boundaries/schemes, but a proposed residential project which would sound the swan song for the lone carob tree within the eponymous Triq il-Ħarrub in Xagħra has elicited many a strong sentiment, with numerous people chipping in to have the tree re-planted onto their land parcel.
The use of such an arboreal moniker for this street in Gozo can probably be attributed to a previous effusion of such a tree on site, with the same trees being systemically decimated as the built-up footprint surged.
Many were those who latched on to the hope that carob trees are protected tree species which cannot be uprooted, only for their hope to fizzle away upon realising that carob trees, along with a host of other tree species (such as Aleppo pine trees, olives, cypress and almond trees) are only protected, as per the latest Protected Trees and Shrubs Regulations of 2018 (Table 2), if they are located within Outside Development Zones (ODZs) or within urban public spaces and within natural or rural/green enclaves in urban areas. The 32 locally occurring tree species that are protected in all localities on the islands (Table 1) include the holm oak, willows and the chaste tree.
The only silver lining in all this essentially melancholic state of affairs is that mature trees don’t necessarily have to be obliterated to pave the way for development. Private landowners out there are waiting in the wings to have the same tree specimens transplanted onto their land.
This is an interesting opportunity that definitely warrants delving into by the Planning Authority, environmental NGOs and the MDA. The inclusion of permit conditions in the future stipulating the issue of a public expression of interest for the translocation of mature trees earmarked for uprooting could go a long way in reducing mature tree mortality, which in itself is preferable over the compensatory tree planting of tree saplings.
Europe needs to pull up its socks to regain its position as global environmental beacon
I am informed that there is a paucity of public/government land that can be targeted for such tree transplanting purposes during major projects – so why not involve willing private landowners in the exercise as well? In Sicily, roadside mature trees facing the chop are literally donated to passers-by having the hardware (pick-up trucks) and land to relocate such trees. So why not emulate this as well in Malta?
This hapless carob tree in Gozo happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and in the wrong Table within the relevant legislation, such that an eponymous street name will be the only remnant left of a glorious, tree-dominated past. Nostalgia? Definitely…
The EU is not that green after all
The recent publication of the EEA’s (European Environmental Agency) State of the Environment Report (SOER) is a stark wake-up call for the European continent given the glaring environmental deficit that it has exposed.
The EEA’s SOER is published every five years and is the most comprehensive environmental assessment so far on the European continent, with the EEA, based in Copenhagen, collating environmental data from 33 different European states, comprising the EU’s 28 states in addition to Norway, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Turkey and Iceland, as well as six cooperating countries located in the Balkans.
The report’s salient conclusion was that European states have failed spectacularly in the achievement of their 2020 environmental targets, with only six out of the total 35 specific environmental policy objectives established for 2020 being met, such that environmental trends in general have not improved in Europe over the ones identified in the last SOER 2015 report.
The report also asserts that a quantum leap is needed for 2030 and 2050 targets to be met, a belief echoed by the Vice-President of the EU Commission Frans Timmermans: “The State of the Environment Report is perfectly timed to give us the added impetus we need as we start a new five-year cycle in the European Commission and as we prepare to present the European Green Deal.
“In the next five years, we will put in place a truly transformative agenda, rolling out new clean technologies, helping citizens to adapt to new job opportunities and changing industries, and shifting to cleaner and more efficient mobility systems and more sustainable food and farming.”
The SOER 2020 report highlights the fact that the most flagrant environmental deficiency was within the biodiversity sector, even though the total terrestrial and marine area enclosed within the confines of protected areas actually increased on the European continent.
Besides biodiversity, other environmental themes addressed in the report include waste generation and management, air quality, soil condition, climate change risks to society, groundwater pressures, the sustainable use of the seas, emissions of chemicals, energy efficiency and even the preservation of quiet areas.
In terms of greenhouse emissions, the EU has managed to inch very close to its 2020 target of slashing 1990 emission levels by 20 per cent, but the 40 per cent slash to the 1990 levels, slated for 2030, is looming large and such an ambitious target might be too unwieldy to manage.
The SOER 2020 report also features stunning statistics related to exposure to fine particulate matter suspended in the air. 400,000 premature deaths are reported each year, mainly in central and eastern Europe, as a result of such exposure, attributed to a dependence to coal-fired energy generation and poor traffic management.
Europe needs to pull up its socks to regain its position as global environmental beacon.