An overview of afforestation projects in Malta and a discussion on what the country could do to up its game and increase forested spaces

Abstract

Less than 1% of Malta is covered by forests yet from palynological research carried out in Burmarrad it is evident that during the Holocene Malta had far more extensive forested land. Anthropological activity particularly agricultural, pastoral and building activities have denuded the landscape accelerating soil erosion and reducing the fertility of the top soil. Other Mediterranean countries ranging from Greece to Israel and from Tunisia to Italy (Sicily) have a similar legacy yet all these countries or regions have managed to retain and/or re-afforest significantly more forest land than Malta even though many of these countries suffered similar anthropological activity and fluctuations in aridity. To understand Malta’s failings in this field we reviewed the existing wooded areas in Malta and their existing footprint and canopy density and considered whether sufficient available public or private land could be identified as potential new forest sites. We estimated how many hectares would be required and how many trees would need to be planted to reach the forested land proportions of Ireland and/or the Netherlands who after Malta are the EU countries with the lowest proportion of forested land. We identified the land that is available for reforestation and how many millions of trees would need to be planted over a 7 year period to reach the goal of a country with 10% to 15% of forested land. We also drew up a number of proposed strategies that could be deployed by Government to incentivise and leverage authorities, local councils, NGO’s and nurseries to support this endeavour. Finally we identified that this afforestation strategy fits the EU Green strategy and could therefore be partially financed by these investment funds and if Government were to prioritise such an environmental project over a 10 to 15 year period it will be able to visibly change Malta.