Seeing red at Ramla

Abstract

Many have understandably been gob-smacked at the high-handedness resorted to at Ramla l- Hamra in addressing the pebbles ‘problem’. With Ramla l-Hamra being supposedly cosseted by a raft of environmental designations (the site has been scheduled since 1995 and is currently a Natura 2000 site/Special Area of Conservation), the least one would have expected is to have a bull-dozer (the epitome of high-handedness) being driven down to the beach on a public holiday (7 th June) at 4am, excavate a humongous pit in the beach (to bury the cleared pebbles), just inches away from the Tamarisk trees, watercourse and, possibly, even the ruins of the Roman villa on site. I will not even attempt to elaborate on the ecological importance and sensitivity of the Ramla beach and dune system since such arguments are frequently seen by authorities as extremist and ante-diluvian. Just one example of such ecological importance is the isopod Tylos europaeus, which is strictly a sand-burrowing species, and which is almost exclusively (with just one exception) restricted to Ramla l-Hamra within the Maltese Islands.