Photo of majestic Lija tree reduced to stump shocks eNGO

Nature Trust – FEE Malta has called for an investigation into the needless “massacre” of trees in various localities, notably a large Carob tree in Lija, stressing that trees are needed because they improve air quality.

A number of trees – some of them iconic – were removed from urban areas in the past weeks, including 14 Mulberry trees (ċawsli) in Victoria, a Holm Oak tree (balluta) just outside the Upper Barrakka in Valletta, and the iconic Carob tree (ħarruba) in Villa Forte Garden in Lija. The latter has a planning application which had been halted (PA 4852/16).

“Nature Trust – FEE Malta hopes that investigations will be carried out as to why such trees have been cut, and whether such actions were, in fact, legal or otherwise.

“NT-FEE Malta cannot understand why the carob tree in Lija was cut down. It is about time that law enforcement is taken seriously on environmental issues and that the respective authorities that have been set up to safeguard our natural heritage take adequate action,” it said, noting that over the years many trees had been lost but that the few remaining were now also being destroyed.

Nature Trust – FEE Malta proposed that a unit on soft landscaping should be incorporated in the new Infrastructure Malta agency being proposed.

Photos: 'Before' photos from Google Street View and 'after' from Facebook.