Viewpoints

The Malta Independent, 7th July 2008 – Editorial The Malta Environment and Planning Authority may have had all the good intentions to facilitate the work of journalists, but last Thursday’s incident does not help in any way to restore the credibility that the authority has gradually lost over the years. Journalists attending the hearing to determine the approval or otherwise of the...

The Malta Independent, 7th July 2008, by Annaliza Borg – The Commissioner for Voluntary Organisations, Kenneth Wain is working to incorporate all voluntary organisations into the legal system according to the law which came into effect last December. As from last February, voluntary organisations were able to start their enrolment process with the commissioner in order for them to be legally recognised....

Times of Malta, 1st July 2008 The concept of “Gozo as an ecological island” has been around quite a while. I first heard about it some six years ago when an expatriate living in Gozo, Terence Calnan, first sounded out the idea with the Ministry of Gozo. In 2006, a team of researchers from Europe’s largest research organisation, Fraunhofer, proposed that...

Times of Malta, 29th June 2008 In her article entitled ‘Speculators and Squatters rule, OK’, in last Sunday’s MaltaToday, Pamela Hansen hit the nail on the head. Like all law-abiding citizens in this country who would never have the temerity to park on yellow lines, let alone appropriating a coastal stretch, Hansen expresses her bewilderment at plans to construct an electricity substation...

Times of Malta, 17th June 2008 – Wonders never cease in this little Clochemerle-like republic of ours. On Monday week I read that the Qala local council has successfully applied to the government for a grant to finance a study to counteract what is being proposed by developers for Ħondoq ir-Rummien; namely €10,000 for a technical study when, in my humble...

Times of Malta, 16th June 2008 – Sustainable development is on the government’s drawing board. In short, objectives for economic progress are to take environmental concerns into account and vice versa. A balance between the two is to be achieved. Construction is one economic sector that often has a negative impact on the environment. Malta’s small size and population density compound...

Sunday Times of Malta, 18 May 2008 – To the current frenzy of building stables and discos, we can add boathouses and hotel extensions. Snippets of information trickling through show plans for the dust-shrouded San Tumas enclave of around 140 boathouses, most of which are illegally-constructed, albeit on private land. Through a tailor-made action plan, in a place identified as a ‘coastal...

Sunday Times of Malta, 18 May 2008 – I sometimes feel that Malta is like a frog in a pot of water placed on a stove. The frog does not feel threatened by the gradual increase in temperature and does not jump out of the pot, even if it can easily do so. It stays there, it will not try...

On 10 April 2008, Dr Gordon Knox gave a public lecture at Din l-Art Helwa entitled ‘Water – a Crisis?’, which focused on the issue of water resources from global and Maltese perspectives. What follows are some of the main points discussed during the lecture:   Malta is heading for a crisis unless attitudes to water management and conservation change drastically. Water...