Press Release 26 May 2009 – Din l-Art Helwa and Nature Trust (Malta)

The NGOs Nature Trust (Malta) and Din l-Art Helwa are very concerned about information being circulated with regards to a political event to be held at Mistra on 30 May 2009. The two NGOs stress that Mistra is today a Natura 2000 site and so it deserves all the protection it can get from the national authorities, mainly MEPA.

This planned event will cause noise and light pollution affecting negatively the biodiversity of this rich ecological site. The NGOs have also been alerted by various calls that agricultural land is also being flattened by means of heavy machinery, thus causing irreversible damage to an area close to the Natura 2000 site. Various NGOs have in the past days lodged reports to MEPA as the responsible authority, to investigate and take immediate action.

NTM and DLH call on the Prime Minister to intervene on this issue and stop this event, since from fliers being distributed it is evident that this is an event being done as part of the MEP elections by the PN. Mistra has already been the saga in another pre-election event. The NGOs deplore the anti-environmental ways some candidates display towards our natural heritage.

It is inconceivable that in spite of the furore caused by the application for turning the site into an open air disco, it appears that through events of this sort the same objective is trying to be achieved. This is unacceptable.