Trees  combat climate change, clean the air, provide oxygen, cool the streets, help prevent water pollution and soil erosion and shield children from ultraviolet rays... among others.

So, why has Malta suddenly lost its mind and gone on a wild rampage to destroy trees everywhere, whether in the streets, roundabouts or squares? 

For the latest news about trees being destroyed and not transplanted (the difference between the two being quite sizeable), simply open the newspaper or go on Facebook and you are inundated with photos sent in by concerned citizens. 

When trees are uprooted, the results are very uncertain with regard to their long-term survival. It may be expensive to obtain the correct equipment to transplant them properly, but it can be done. After all, it is our long-term environment we are talking about.

The general public is constantly fobbed off with the comment that for every tree felled, another sapling may be planted in its stead, but no one mentions that these will take years to grow as high and as mature as those axed, and so their benefits are lost or delayed. 

Those expressing concern for the loss of greenery are mocked and told we shall be better off with more traffic on wider roads instead. So, the logic here dictates that, instead of open spaces, we should inhale more fumes. We do, however, need to be practical. There is no use planting a tree if you don’t water it and look after it while it is growing. Just like there is no point putting up a road sign unless you are prepared to maintain it and not let it fall to pieces. 

We have created our own environmental problems, and we have to find a solution for them.  In some cases, mature trees have to be uprooted to create motorways for our ever-expanding volume of traffic… and I mean uprooted, not just cut down and destroyed. There are ways and means of uprooting trees and placing them elsewhere. It’s done in every other country and should be done in Malta.

Not only should mature trees be uprooted and placed somewhere safe, but all contractors building anything in Malta and Gozo should be obliged to plant a fixed number of mature trees (not saplings that die within 10 days) to offset the environmental damage they do. 

This obligation should be included in their permits to build. Not only that, but they must be obliged to water and maintain the trees until they are strong and mature. These obligations should be supervised by the authorities to make sure they are carried out.

We grumble about so many things in Malta, but there are solutions to most problems, and grumbling doesn’t get things done. Actions do.

We have a governmental department dealing with the environment and environmental problems, and this department should do its job conscientiously and properly. It should ensure that the people of Malta and our visitors have the peace of mind that Malta will remain and get even more attractive as time goes on; not the opposite, as is happening at present.

What are the main things disfiguring our environment? What are the things making Malta unattractive? Less and less greenery is a big contributor. What is being done to effectively tackle this?  

The ugliness of graffiti

More and more graffiti is appearing all over Malta and privately-owned walls and property. What is being done to find the culprits? Someone must identify the people doing these atrocities. They must be caught and punished, and the graffiti removed.

I have just returned from a visit to a few places in Europe. Some places like Bologna, Rome and Athens are full of graffiti and look very sorry for themselves. Others like Cannes are graffiti free and look very elegant and beautiful. What is the difference? 

Why has Malta suddenly lost its mind and gone on a wild rampage to destroy trees everywhere?

The answer must lie with the people in charge of each area. There should be a law in Malta that severely punishes people who disfigure our country. That is, if we care about keeping our country beautiful. Sometimes I wonder if we do care. Look around you for a moment. 

You will see that the Maltese are very capable of building beautiful things, from rubble walls to renovation projects to the old fortifications. Yet, when they are complete, we often let them fall to pieces. When will we finally get it into our heads that things do not look after themselves but have to be looked after and maintained?

Take a look at the Sliema promenade. It was built to the highest of standards and was a credit to the area. Then what happened? It was left abandoned. The railings went rusty until they became dangerous. 

The tiles started sinking and were either not replaced at all or replaced with non-matching tiles. The water fountains went rusty and stopped working. The lights went rusty and started collapsing. The rubbish bins are falling to pieces. 

Despite the warning signs, the promenade is full of people cycling and using scooters amid the pedestrians. Will we only start enforcing the law when someone gets hurt?

This all boils down to caring about what is happening around us, and then enforcing the correct thing to do. Do we have the will to do the correct thing? I do not think so. In that case, it is a pity for us and for Malta.