Natural Reaction Shaking the foundations - GMOs and a round of golf Anne Zammit The Sunday Times 22/2/04 www.timesofmalta.com Trust is at an all time low when it comes to enforcing standards. As the freezing of an illegal beach shack by enforcement officers makes headlines we cannot help thinking of the many other illegalities which continue to slip through the net... or receive a blessing in the form of a sanction. There is a very valid lack of trust surrounding the landfill development. Din l-Art Helwa has called into question how proposed thresholds for the Mnajdra landfill would be met. What guarantee is there against permanent damage to the prehistoric temples, already classified as being in a high state of stress due to neglect, this heritage organisation asks. In the same vein, confidence is low regarding the competence and success MEPA will have keeping under control the risks to biodiversity associated with the release of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) into local soil or waters. The National Council of Women recently urged Government to bring the issue of GM technology into the public forum to further ensure consumer rights. Concerned about long-term public health and environmental safety, the NCW noted that the proponents of genetic modification (GM) technology are strongly promoting its use in food production. "The most significant proponents are powerful multinational companies with financial motives", observes an amendment on food safety passed at the council's annual general meeting. Europe is currently under pressure from lobbyists in the GM industry to cave in as the EU's five-year moratorium crumbles to pressure from the World Trade Organsation. At the same time pockets of resistance over GM are growing. These are not so readily convinced that all GMOs are as beneficial as the industry would have us believe. The NCW referred to the Precautionary Principle which means that if there are reasonable scientific grounds for believing that a new process or product may not be safe, it should not be introduced until there is convincing evidence that the risks are small and do not outweigh the benefits. The NCW called on government to support the United Nations in implementing any bio-safety protocol agreement which includes the Precautionary Principle. The Maltese government has so far steered clear of signing the international agreement known as the Cartagena protocol on Bio-Safety but has drawn up a legal notice for the release of GMOs on the islands which fails to address the safe transport of GMOs by road and sea as upheld by the protocol. The European Community declares it has already adopted legal instruments, binding on its Member States, covering matters governed by this Protocol. The European Community is responsible for the performance of those obligations resulting from the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety which are covered by Community law in force. The latest of the candidate countries to sign the protocol is Latvia on February 13. GMO permits for local plantings Just over a week ago the Bio-Safety Co-ordinating Committee appointed by MEPA became operational with the aim of receiving and processing applications for the intentional introduction of GMOs into Malta. This includes planting GM crops on Maltese soil or introduction of genetically modified fish in fish farms on an experimental basis and all the associated risks of spread to the wild. The 40-page legal notice (LN 170 2002) which lays out how MEPA will process applications to release GMOs, either as living organisms into the environment or in the form of food products put on the market, will come into force on March 1. Intentional introduction or "deliberate release" implies the need to carefully control GMOs escaping into the environment with an impact on neighbouring crops. Another legal notice (LN 169) regulates the contained use of GMOs in laboratories in an attempt to ensure they do not find their way down drainpipes into the environment where they could spread and alter the genes of any wild or cultivated plants which might happen to be compatible. Several other NGOs are showing concern. One environment group made inquiries with the Ministry of Agriculture (when it was still under Minister Ninu Zammit) and the American Embassy. While the embassy provided some feedback no answer or acknowledgement was forthcoming from the ministry. As one activist puts it: "The US is ready to go all the way to force GMOs down everybody's throats... after all they are the ones who threaten third world countries that if they don't allow GMOs into their countries they would cut off US aid. Not many people are aware of this locally." A delegation of Malta Greens is in Rome tabling a resolution to keep the islands GMO-free. Better to go the way of many like-minded farmers and consumers in Europe and declare the Maltese islands a GMO-free zone, says Alternattiva Demokratika. This will take some political will of which it is apparent of late we are sorely lacking when it comes to the powers that be. Resources and restraints The Mediterranean World Travel Conference to be held in Malta this week touches on the challenge of balancing the social and environmental impact of tourism with its economic contribution. Aligning tourism to the needs of a rapidly aging, more affluent population by providing golf courses might work in Portugal. In Malta we need to work with the bountiful resources we already have, developing our unique historical sites and the many small-scale, initiatives blessed with that personal touch so difficult to find in other mass tourism destinations. To take one example, how many tourists ever make it to the fascinating maritime museum in Nadur? My father spent hours in this small but fascinating gem of a showcase and claimed it had made his holiday. Happily there is now a hand-painted direction sign at the top of Mgarr Road to indicate that this treasure exists. There are hundreds, thousands of similar enterprises run with less of an eye on profit and more out of a personal vocation to promote whatever lesser known cultural-historical treasure it is these self-sustaining guardians have chosen to cherish, preserve and share. Equity in distribution of tourist wealth is far more likely to come about through encouragement and promotion of these initiatives than mass projects which benefit the chosen few. Pro-golf politicians It is interesting that the MEPA has been accused of being "anti-golf". If the authority were to be judged by the song and dance I was led over what turned out to be a fairly damning MRA report on water use for the proposed Tal-Virt� golf course, then I might have ventured pronouncing MEPA "pro-golf". In an unquestionably narrow perception of the word "environment", Dr Michael Refalo has pleaded that it is "not true" that golf courses endanger the environment. The ex-MP expounded his theory at a recent dinner wearing his latest hat - honorary president of the Marsa Golf Club. Even a schoolchild can understand that a monoculture of alien turf accompanied by regular dosage with herbicides is ruinous to the chemical and biological environment. The more artificial and short-term view is easily blinded by the bright colour of imported grass. Anything that appears green on the surface is thought to fall vaguely somewhere under the heading of sustainable development. Dr Refalo's grievance regarding MEPA reminds me of times past. Some years back, under the Labour government, the Environment Department was often accused of being "infiltrated" by environmentalists. This entertained us no end. A golf course, whether properly planned or otherwise, is certain to have an immediate and extremely negative effect on the landscape. Landscape and landscaping are two different things. The first is what we already have while the second is what people try to create, often a poor imitation of the first. Even fallow or uncultivable land, which most people tend to regard as wasteland or non-productive, has a certain value in terms of scenery which is not always well enough appreciated. Planners are beginning to weigh these landscape aspects more seriously when considering proposed developments. An assessment on the landscape of North West Malta has emphasised the importance of the Tal-Virt� slopes as a working rather than ornamental landscape providing the setting for the ancient town of Mdina and Rabat. The report adds that "There are no other comparable examples of escarpment landscapes in Malta". Don't blame MEPA, Dr Refalo. Blame the farmers, environmentalists, and the rest of us (see box). And don't forget the foreign resident, an enthusiastic golfer who wrote: "I am against the golf course because I am in favour of agricultural land, fair distribution of land and in favour of farmers." What we must not see is a MEPA that issues a permit for a golf course at Tal-Virt�, leaving Government in the lurch with a fait accompli and much explaining to do to the Vatican and the Maltese public. Ministers should lobby MEPA to see that this embarrassing state of affairs is avoided at all costs. An application made in 2000 for a planning permit to run an organic farm on the slopes of Tal-Virt� was granted the go-ahead on appeal a few months ago. In the meantime it has emerged that Government failed to make use of the EU's offer to help organic farmers during the transition to pesticide-free methods through funding available within the rural development programme. No one can say for sure (although the Works Division has commissioned an Italian diagnostics firm to investigate) what effect the extraction of water from the aquifer for use on the golf course would have on the foundations of Mdina. The Museums Department has already expressed its concern over the huge risk of shrinkage of clay underlying the rock foundation which could possibly cause a geological shift resulting in severe damage to the heritage town. In this case, as with GMOs, it is essential to activate the precautionary principle. Put simply, if you cannot be sure of the risks then don't do it. Public Hearing 2002 Who said what about the golf course "One of the most extraordinary claims in the environment impact assessment is that the proposed golf course beneath Tal-Virt� in Rabat is reversible." - Adrian Grima. "We appeal that you take into consideration the fact that taking land from farmers and giving it to third persons is not legal." - Progressive Farmers Union. "The environment impact assessment shows that the social impact on farmers will be major and negative, the proposal breaches structure plan policies and goes against an international agreement on the use of the land in question between the Maltese government and the Vatican." - Julian Manduca, Friends of the Earth "We strongly appeal to the MEPA board to reflect on the legal situation that the land in question is covered by article 2.1 of the Holy See-Malta Agreement." Dr Harry Vassallo, Alternattiva Demokratika. "The proposed golf course violates the (Church-State) agreement as it relates to a private, not a public enterprise that, to add insult to injury, will destroy the agricultural community at Tal-Virt�." - Michael Briguglio. "This is our land and no one can take it away from us unless we let them." - Marisa Micallef Leyson. "A golf course does not satisfy the parameters laid out in the agreement." - Apostolic Nuncio, quoted in GensIllum "The amount of water that such a golf course needs is too high for our scarce resources." - Front Kontra il-Golf Kors. |
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