Nature Trust Malta (NTM) said it is very concerned that despite the Prime Minister's statement in the Budget speech about 36 sites in Malta and Gozo having been enlisted for protection, including sites as part of the European Union network of protected areas known as NATURA2000 and the first Marine Protected Area, the site at Ta’ Cenc remains off this list. In the same spirit of nature conservation the NGO urged Government and MEPA to include Ta’ Cenc in the shortlist of the designated NATURA 2000 sites to the EU.
Ta’ Cenc, said the NGO, is a site of ecological, historical, geological, archaeological and geomorphologic importance. “The cliff area is an important bird area for various species such as the scarce Spectacled Warbler, the Corn Bunting, the Blue Rock Thrush and has one of the most impressive colonies of Cory`s Shearwater in the Maltese islands and a small colony of the otherwise elusive Storm Petrel. The site offers a very interesting garigue habitat while the cliffs are the nesting grounds of the Cory Shearwater amoung others. The area includes a rich Mediterranean plant biodiversity in its garigue and rupestral habitats with several rare and/or endemic species such as the National Maltese Plant Rock Centaury. This high value makes the site a prime eco tourism area, a place to go for visitors looking for a unique experience of their travel to the Maltese Islands.
NTM notes the pressure being put on this site through an application filed at MEPA for the development of various bungalows and a hotel at Ta Cenc. Furthermore NTM also notes that MEPA, the authority responsible to protect the natural environment, has proposed this site to the PM as a possible candidate site for a golf course,” it continued.
“When one considers the value of the site and sees the proposed development in the area from private industry and the nature protection authority one cannot but not feel shocked at such instances. One asks if this is the way sustainable development should take place.
Nature Trust Malta has been asking and still awaits the reply from the respective authorities as to why such an important ecological site suitable for a NATURA 2000 site has been left out from being proposed as a candidate for protection, management and conservation under the NATURA 2000 scheme,” added the NGO.
NTM said it had placed Ta’ Cenc in the shadow list compiled by WWF for NATURA 2000 sites in the new member states. This site also featured in the document WWF published on new NATURA 2000 sites shadow lists distributed among the EU member states.
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