WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS SHOCKED BY
UNSUSTAINABLE MALTA
Participants at the international
workshop on Building
Partnerships for a Sustainable Future in the Mediterranean,
representing development experts and activists from several countries
throughout the Mediterranean, were deeply shocked by the apparently
unsustainable over-development of the island and lack of open natural
spaces.
They joined Maltese organisations
in calling for the preservation of the country’s few remaining natural
and agricultural areas. Recalling that Malta has ratified the Barcelona
Convention and is a signatory of the UN Convention to combat
Desertification, they called on the relevant Maltese authorities to desist
from proposing and supporting projects that are unsustainable.
The golf course proposed for the Tal-Virtu area, for example, should be rejected.
Agricultural land should be
protected and improved because it has a value that far exceeds the price
that a developer may be willing to pay for it.
Signed,
Adrian Grima (Inizjamed)
Bruno Neri (CRIC, Italy)
Vince Caruana (Koperattiva Kummerc Gust)
Tonino Perna (Parco Nazionale dell'Aspromonte, Italy)
Roderick Agius (Third World Group)
Paola Antolini (hydrologist)
Eric Von Monckhoven (CRIC, Italy)
David Katz (Friends of the Earth, Middle East)
Elisabetta Bottaro (Etimos, Italy)
Elisabetta Bucolo (CRIDA, France)
Michčle Barriere (ALLEE, France)
Mete Hacaloglu (Eco Village Network,. Turkey)
Pantelis Sklias (European Perspective, Greece)
Mariella Perna (International House, Italy)
Miriam Giovanzana (Altreconomia, Italy)
Stefano
Magnoni (CTM - Altromercato)
