CORRECTED VERSION:- Many have pointed out some grammar and spelling
mistakes of the previous letter, thank you all for your support and
comments.
Dear Birders:
For more information, photos and video go to <
http://www.MaltaTouristAction.org >
Please send the sample letter below to the President of Malta Prof. Guido de
Marco or if you wish, compose one for yourself.
SAMPLE LETTER: Remember to add your name, address & country and forward
widely. Postage is the same as regular air mail to Europe.
===============================================================
Prof. Guido de Marco
Office of the President
The Palace
Valetta CMR 02
Malta
RE: International Community Perceptions of Malta and
My Decision Whether to Invest in Travel to Your Country
Dear President de Marco:
While appreciating your country's strong commitment to protecting Malta's
natural heritage, it is clear that the efforts made by the administration
and the executive organs are still half-hearted. Many of the uncivilized
excesses carried out in the name of hunting are either tolerated, or a blind
eye is turned by the responsible authorities. It is also clear that, as in
other countries, conservation of natural resources requires a concurrent
commitment to raising public awareness and effectively training and
equipping
the police and other agencies to enforce the law.
Before your appointment as President in April 1999, you held a number of
influential positions within the Maltese Government including that of
Minister for Foreign Affairs. One of your first acts in this capacity was
to submit Malta's application for membership of the European
Community in Brussels on July 16th, 1990. On the 11th September 1999 you
presented Malta's request for the reactivation of its application for
membership to the President of the European Union.
Sadly Malta still lags well behind European targets in the environmental
field.
In its last regular report the EU Delegation to Malta wrote: "Since the last
regular report, Malta has made very little progress in the area of
environment."
No legislative progress can be reported concerning nature protection. Malta
is
a party to the Bern Convention but has stated exceptions under the
convention
in relation to the hunting season. With regard to nature protection, most of
the
Community legislation has to
be transposed, in particular the wild birds and the habitat directives.
It is also obvious to tourists, and increasingly to TV viewers and newspaper
readers in the rest of Europe and elsewhere, that the biannual slaughter of
migratory birds, as well as the trapping and caging of naturally free
species, is an affront and a depletion of our joint European natural
resources; and not just an internal matter for Malta alone.
Apart from the obvious long-term environmental consequences and losses for
Malta and the rest of Europe, the Government and people of Malta should
seriously consider the effect of the negative image projected by the
barbaric behavior of a minority and the economic and representation
penalties that will inevitably follow. In the increasingly popular - and
lucrative - field of Ecotourism Malta has acquired a bad name; and the
inevitable sanctions will be self-imposed. Until a responsible environmental
policy is implemented we will also discourage anyone in our domestic or
business circle from planning a holiday in Malta.
On the other hand we hope that active bird watchers and environmentalists
will travel to Malta during the migration season. Perhaps the presence of
foreign environmentalists will have a positive effect on the illegal
hunters;
provided the authorities ensure that no one's life is endangered.
Mr. President, we appeal to you to use the authority of your office to
influence those in executive positions to put an end to practices which have
no place in a modern, environmentally aware, society. This will involve the
introduction of laws and regulations currently in force in the European
Union; and provision of the means to publicize and enforce them. I do not
intend to travel to Malta until I hear you are positively enforcing the
conservation of all birds and wildlife on the island.
Sincerely,
Your name and address here.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Please now go to < http://proaction.tripod.com/malta/ >
Why don't you join < http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Eurobirder > and
< http://proaction.tripod.com/team/
_________________________________________________________________
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