Although our islands are small and densely populated, we still have some scenic and beautiful rural landscapes. Besides their rich biodiversity, our rural areas also contain distinctive cultural features, including traditional rubble walls, corbelled huts and small wayside chapels.
Agriculture lies at the heart of rural life and genuine farmers must be supported to develop and strengthen their activities in appropriate and imaginative ways. It is important to continue to integrate environmental considerations into agriculture as has been happening through the 2007 -2013 rural development funds.
Rural tourism is to be encouraged, as a sustainable and responsible industry focusing on rural life, agriculture, traditional food products, nature and leisure. Yet agritourism must not be used by commercial operators as a pretext for land speculation or building outside the scheme, or for inappropriate commercial activities. The countryside must be conserved and protected for current and future generations to enjoy.
The new rural policy recently published by this government provides guidance on building outside the development zones (ODZ) and includes policies on agritourism. The policy contains some valid points but has already been widely criticised because it opens cracks in the gates to excessive construction in rural areas. These fears are fuelled by this government’s apparent belief that construction can drive the economy forward.
Agritourism should add value to nature conservation, biodiversity and rural activities such as agriculture, and avoid increasing pressures on rural areas. No thorough environmental impact assessment of the policy was carried out.
This government had said it would not change the development zone boundaries but this policy will eventually lead to a similar result. Construction in the countryside may just enter through the window instead of the front door.
In an interview in The Sunday Times of Malta a few months ago, Environment Minister Leo Brincat admitted he had not been consulted on the draft policy for ODZ areas drawn up by his government, as though this was not of concern to him. This statement elicited a strong negative reaction from the public.
How could the Minister for the Environment and Sustainable Development, who is also responsible for agriculture, not be involved in the policy regulating building in rural areas?
To make amends for this gross mistake, he seems to have made a U-turn last week by participating in the press conference held to launch the final version of the policy. Despite his presence and support for the policy, nothing has really changed from the draft to the final version of the policy, which makes his original statement a bigger joke.
Perhaps he will one day make another U-turn and admit that splitting environmental regulation from planning is not the magic solution he made it out to be, and that planning and the environment must work hand-in-hand.
Although as an Opposition we recognised that the government had the mandate to proceed with the split, so far it has not convinced anyone that this move will be more beneficial to the environment. Furthermore, after 18 months of this government, the environmental staff at Mepa are still in transit. The Environment Minister has talked a lot but achieved very little on the ground.
Brincat also recently insisted that the Strategic Plan for the Environment and Development, which is to replace the Structure Plan, is a planning document and not an environmental plan. He overlooked the salient word ‘environment’ in the title of the plan, and may well have to make yet another U-turn on this.
The overall objectives for this Strategic Plan, as drafted by the Nationalist administration in 2012, have been presented as the full plan by this government as it couldn’t be bothered to work on the detailed document which was expected to follow the objectives.
Forget roadmaps and strategies – this government prefers short-term thinking. Yet this will lead to poor results. The environment requires and deserves a long-term approach. Safeguarding the environment is not about the instant gratification of current demands but about the future of our children and of our country.
The pressures from the developers’ lobby during our time in government to open up the countryside for wedding halls, discos, hotels, wineries and what not are still very fresh in our minds. This government has accommodated all of these requests too easily, which makes this policy nothing but a travesty. The policy will lead farmers to abandon their land in the face of greater speculation.
In view of his initial lack of involvement as Environment Minister in both the rural policy and the Strategic Plan for Environment and Development, this supposed balance between planning and the environment seems quite lopsided in his hands. The scales are not tipped in favour of the environment.
Sunday, September 28, 2014, 00:01 by Charlò Bonnici (Times of Malta)
