Working group on preservation of tress set up

An ad hoc working group was set up by Environment Minister Leo Brincat to come up with recommendations on how to preserve trees in urban and rural areas while control excessive pruning of trees.

The members of the working group, which include environmentalist Alfred Baldacchino, Charles Grech, Steve Borg, Anna Spiteri and Pamela Hansen, will not receive remuneration for their input.

Brincat said the group has already met a number of times and is set to intensify its work in the coming weeks.

"There is also an urgent need to draw up a national action plan on the protection of trees and to regulate operators in this sector," Brincat said.

The minister said an amendment had weakened a legal notice which protected trees in urban areas. He said that while he wasn't going to hinder any economic activities, at the same time he wasn't going to allow someone to make illicit profit which went against the safeguarding of trees.

"The existent legal framework must be strengthened and focus on the ecological, social and financial impacts," he said, adding that administrative, legal and educational matters had to be given a push.

Brincat said the Parks Division must be vigilant and implement strict monitoring on activities which could lead to the destruction of trees, especially when it comes to embellishment and landscaping projects - even those carried by government or the local councils.

Government is also planning to hold a seminar on the safeguarding of trees, during which the general public could also put forward its suggestions.