ADPD-The Green Party has accused the Government of “hating” Maltese natural heritage and biodiversity.

In a statement, it argued that “together with its plans to weaken land use planning laws, it is also failing to protect biodiversity and continuously seeks new ways to weaken regulations to facilitate the unlawful practice of bird trapping and hunting.”

“The Government continues to confirm its refusal to properly align with the EU?Birds?Directive (Directive 2009/147/EC). Government’s recent ‘Green Paper’ about the environment is just hot air, given the government’s continuous undermining of laws, rules and regulations protecting the environment and its hate for the Maltese environment, which it proudly wears on its sleeves,” said the Green Party.

It pointed out that the recent changes introduced under Legal Notice 251/2025 remove the requirement for bird-ringing equipment to be obtained exclusively via the network approved by EURING (represented in Malta by BirdLife?Malta). “The weakening of regulations include changes to allow the use of live decoy birds, a tactic formerly prohibited.”

ADPD-The Green Party spokesperson and International Secretary Mark Zerafa said, “the trapping season is in and of itself unlawful, now the Government is even weakening the regulations regulating an unlawful practice.”

He noted that “the European Court of Justice (ECJ) found that Malta’s previous derogation for finch-trapping under the Birds Directive was unlawful: Malta failed to demonstrate a genuine scientific purpose and proper control. Despite this ECJ ruling, the Government continues to open trapping seasons for songbirds and golden plover under the guise of research.”

He stressed that “it is making a mockery out of the scientific practice of ringing by vandalising the legal notice regulating bird ringing to appease trappers. By removing the exclusive link to EURING-approved schemes and recognised training, the Government has opened the door to weaker or uncoordinated bird-ringing practices, which risk undermining data integrity, species monitoring and conservation outcomes.”

He concluded that, “allowing live decoy birds explicitly weakens protections and allows misuse of wildlife under the guise of ringing or research.”

ADPD-The Green Party Secretary General Ralph Cassar added, “the Government’s stated objective of supporting so-called ‘traditional hobbies’ is evidently being placed ahead of the interests of the Maltese. It is neither progressive nor in any way modern and scientific to engage in the cheap, culturally ignorant, chauvinistic and indeed frankly right-wing populist politics that the Labour government is pursuing. Labour is cynically prioritising the interests of the hunting and trapping lobbies over the conservation of our shared natural heritage.”

He claimed that “we also have, unsurprisingly, some PL and PN MPs bending over backwards to dance to the tune of these same lobbies. The farcical posturing by PN MEP Peter Agius and PL MEP Alex Agius Saliba, is a case in point, both falling over each other to try and score brownie points, and posing as some defenders of the Maltese.”

Cassar went on to say that “it is pertinent to note that the legal notices regarding ringing and trapping can be challenged in Parliament, but of course no Government or Opposition MP will dare do that. The real ‘defenders of the Maltese’ – to use their own cheap nationalistic drivel – are those who work to safeguard the natural heritage of Malta, to defend open spaces in what remains of the countryside, and those who work in the conservation of biodiversity.”

He concluded by saying, “stop lumping arrogant lobbies who in the year 2025 still bully people and wreak havoc on our common natural heritage with all the rest of us Maltese and residents of Malta and Gozo.”

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