The natural environment on the Maltese Islands, or what's left of it, is vital to the well being of all citizens and visitors alike. It is also an important thing to safeguard if we intend on continuing to attract more visitors and permanent residents to the islands.
Since the government never really has had much interest in the protection of the Maltese countryside and our natural environment as a whole, this responsibility seems to have fallen on the citizens of these islands who do not want to see the increasing development taking place swallow up the little parcels of green spaces we have left.
I've been following a number of initiatives from different people and organisations with different interests all over the island, and have even had the pleasure of attempting to participate in a number of their initiative and/or activities. I thought it would be a good idea to collate a list of the top initiatives that I am aware of as part of my next blog post, so here they are.
Żibel
Established in 2017 by a group of Maltese youngsters concerned with the growing rubbish problem on the Maltese Islands, "Żibel" is an environmental NGO that, in their own words, "is forming a constantly growing community of people, who love to see Malta sparkling clean".
Throughout the last couple of years they have been actively organising a number of clean-ups all over the island, engaging like-minded people to come together and clean up the huge amounts of rubbish that other idiots decide to leave behind them on beaches and in the countryside. These clean-ups have taken place both on land and in our seas, with one milestone of theirs being the launch of the Seabin in Malta, which can be placed in harbours around the islands to passively and autonomously capture floating rubbish with little need for human intervention.
I have been on a number of land and sea based clean-ups with this group and, although I was saddened by the amount of rubbish we gathered, the sheer amount of people joining these clean-ups gave me hope that there were still a good amount of people around who care about the state of our islands and surrounding waters.
To this day, Żibel continue with their initiative to not only clean our islands, but to also educate current and future generations on the dangers of single-use plastics and what we can do as a nation to take better care of our natural environment and dispose of rubbish more intelligently.
Throughout the last couple of years they have been actively organising a number of clean-ups all over the island, engaging like-minded people to come together and clean up the huge amounts of rubbish that other idiots decide to leave behind them on beaches and in the countryside. These clean-ups have taken place both on land and in our seas, with one milestone of theirs being the launch of the Seabin in Malta, which can be placed in harbours around the islands to passively and autonomously capture floating rubbish with little need for human intervention.
I have been on a number of land and sea based clean-ups with this group and, although I was saddened by the amount of rubbish we gathered, the sheer amount of people joining these clean-ups gave me hope that there were still a good amount of people around who care about the state of our islands and surrounding waters.
To this day, Żibel continue with their initiative to not only clean our islands, but to also educate current and future generations on the dangers of single-use plastics and what we can do as a nation to take better care of our natural environment and dispose of rubbish more intelligently.
Saġġar
More recently, two other NGOs (QLZH Foundation and ACT), have decided to collaborate on a new project that aims to grow and plant approximately 990,000 trees over a three year period. Although this seems to be a very ambitious target, they are confident that with the right planning and people they can get this done and reach their goal.
The plan with which they envision reaching their goal involves growing the trees in suitable propagation centres. Once the trees have grown to a suitable size, they will be transported and planted in various locations on public and private land all over the island.
In order to get this done, however, they need our help so visit their website and Facebook page in order to get up to speed with what these guys are doing and lend a hand.
The plan with which they envision reaching their goal involves growing the trees in suitable propagation centres. Once the trees have grown to a suitable size, they will be transported and planted in various locations on public and private land all over the island.
In order to get this done, however, they need our help so visit their website and Facebook page in order to get up to speed with what these guys are doing and lend a hand.
G10T
The 'Grow 10 Trees' project was started by a father and son team, with the aim of getting everyone involved to grow at least 10 trees at home. All species of tree are endemic or indigenous to the Maltese islands and the seeds are provided by the team themselves. Once the trees have reached a certain level of maturity and a site has been earmarked for afforestation somewhere on the Maltese islands, an event is organised for all those with trees ready to plant or interested in lending a hand to meet up at a specified location and plant all available trees.
Events have been held in a number of places all over Malta and the group currently boasts just over 3000 members all eager to receive seeds from the organisers and attempt to grow local flora. The group also provides lots of information required to grow healthy trees and the species of tree on offer is quite extensive also.
This is a great initiative and attempts to employ the concept of "crowd-sourcing" to get people who care about the natural landscape of our archipelago to have a hand in making it better and greener, while also promoting the propagation of native species as opposed to invasive ones. Let's face it, nature know best, so if something has grown here happily for all these centuries, it's only sensible that those should be the species of choice!
Events have been held in a number of places all over Malta and the group currently boasts just over 3000 members all eager to receive seeds from the organisers and attempt to grow local flora. The group also provides lots of information required to grow healthy trees and the species of tree on offer is quite extensive also.
 |
| My latest attempt to grow some Judas, Almond and Virgi saplings |
This is a great initiative and attempts to employ the concept of "crowd-sourcing" to get people who care about the natural landscape of our archipelago to have a hand in making it better and greener, while also promoting the propagation of native species as opposed to invasive ones. Let's face it, nature know best, so if something has grown here happily for all these centuries, it's only sensible that those should be the species of choice!
Malta Clean Up / Let's Do It Malta
Although these may seem to be 2 distinct groups promoting the clean up of our islands and the push for proper waste management, they were both pushed into the spotlight by Cami Appelgren, a passionate individual who has made it her mission to push the need to take care of our island's environment and stop the senseless dumping of rubbish in the Maltese countryside.
These groups aim to empower residents to go out and clean up our countryside as well as educate people about the dangers of single use plastics and other pollutants. I wish them the best of luck in their endeavors and will help in any way that I can.
Let's Do It Malta, in particular, is famous for their yearly nationwide clean up event held on "World Clean Up Day" in September every year. So please join the group and keep your eyes and ears out for the next nationwide event coming up later this year, as well as the other smaller clean-ups organised over weekends throughout the year.
These groups aim to empower residents to go out and clean up our countryside as well as educate people about the dangers of single use plastics and other pollutants. I wish them the best of luck in their endeavors and will help in any way that I can.
Let's Do It Malta, in particular, is famous for their yearly nationwide clean up event held on "World Clean Up Day" in September every year. So please join the group and keep your eyes and ears out for the next nationwide event coming up later this year, as well as the other smaller clean-ups organised over weekends throughout the year.
Conclusions
I'd like to end this post by first stating that I truly commend and admire all the people involved in all of the aforementioned initiatives.
That being said, I think we as a nation need to realise that instead of cleaning up our messes, we probably shouldn't make them in the first place! So next time you're out and about, on the beach, in the countryside, or even in the city, think before you throw that sweet wrapper or cigarette butt on the floor. Find a damn bin and throw it in there instead!
Better yet, think about the items you use and dispose of at home. Do you really need your lettuce to be wrapped in two plastic bags? Wouldn't it be better if you threw that old magazine in the recycling bin instead, or even better recycled it yourself somehow?
I won't go into what businesses and the government can do to help in this matter, as I will probably go way over my self-imposed word count and don't want to ramble on in only my second post.
In essence, though if all involved would be a bit more considerate and intelligent in the way we treat our natural environment, we would all be better off mentally, physically and as a nation!
Comments
Post a Comment