As Malta joins the international community in marking World Environment Day, calls for stronger environmental protections have taken centre stage, particularly around the future of Manoel Island and the constitutional recognition of environmental rights.
In a clear reflection of growing public sentiment, political group Momentum renewed its demand for the immediate halting of MIDI’s proposed development on Manoel Island. Momentum argues that transforming one of Malta’s last central green lungs into a commercial zone would be an irreversible blow to the island’s environmental integrity and to public well-being.
“Over 30,000 Maltese citizens have already spoken out in a petition,” said Momentum executive member Katya Compagno, urging the government to retract the MIDI contract and use Manoel Island to create a national park or allow it to remain in its rugged, natural state. She warned that giving short-term economic interests over environmental sustainability was no longer a viable path, especially in an already overdeveloped and congested urban area.
Compagno also stressed the island’s potential as an eco-tourism hub. “True quality tourism should embrace our natural heritage, not diminish it,” she said, positioning Manoel Island as a symbol of sustainable growth under Malta’s Vision 2050.
Reflecting the broader environmental concern, the Partit Nazzjonalista seized the opportunity to reiterate its demand to enshrine environmental protection as a constitutional right. “The environment is not a luxury or an afterthought,” the PN stated, “but a right which must be protected in law for present and future generations.”
The party criticised the government’s environmental management, accusing it of offering “token compensations” following permission for ecological harm. Alternatively, the PN advocated for a modern, integrated approach that treats the environment not just as greenery, but as part of a comprehensive system of biodiversity, waste, coastal health, and air quality.
Adding further weight to the debate, the Green Party (ADPD) accused both major parties of long-standing complicity with private interests over Manoel Island. Chairperson Sandra Gauci and Secretary General Ralph Cassar criticised both Prime Minister Robert Abela and Opposition Leader Bernard Grech for “echoing MIDI’s stance” and failing to act when the developer breached its contract. Gauci stated that this bipartisan inaction has helped fuel speculation on public land, contributing to higher property prices and the erosion of public green space.
Cassar highlighted that the original 2000 parliamentary decision, supported unanimously by both Labour and Nationalist MPs, to grant MIDI control of both Tigné and Manoel Island caused “lasting damage.” ADPD also insisted that parliamentary petitions, must be taken seriously and called for a full parliamentary debate on the matter.
This year on World Environment Day, the growing pressure from both political and civil society voices signals a pivotal moment: Malta must decide whether to protect what remains of it’s natural spaces as a national treasure or continue down the road of ad hoc concessions and unbridled development.
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