On Wednesday, primary school children from nine schools in Malta and Gozo expressed their environmental concerns to the Minister for Sustainable Development, the Environment and Climate Change, Leo Brincat, in the annual “Dear Minister” event, for schools participating in BirdLife Malta and Bank of Valletta’s Dinja Wahda environmental education programme for primary schools.

At the event, the children, aged between eight and eleven years, read out the letters they had written to the Minister, in which they raised their personal concerns about Malta’s environment and appealed to politicians and people in general to take more consideration of the environment and nature, both in their everyday activities and when making decisions that will affect the environment for years to come.

The nine shortlisted letters were chosen from a total of more than 280 written by school children carrying out the “Dear Minister” activity, which is one of 30 environmental activities in the Dinja Wahda Activity Guide.

Minister Brincat listened attentively to the children as they spoke about a broad range of important topics. The topics covered in the children’s letters this year were ‘The Sea’, ‘The Countryside’, ‘Reducing Pollution’ and ‘Waste Management.’

The Minister then took the time to respond to each of the issues raised one by one, acknowledging the importance of the environment for the health of the planet as a whole and at the local level, for the wellbeing of individual people, and stating the government’s commitment to act on environmental issues.

Also listening with interest was the panel of judges, who would have to choose just one winning letter.

“It was a very difficult choice,” said Mr Raymond Facciol, one of the judges on the panel. “All the letters were very thoughtful and thought-provoking, and the children did brilliantly reading them out in front of the audience.”

In the end the judges agreed that one letter in particular stood out. Jayden Aquilina, from St. Nicholas College Attard Primary school, read a letter asking the Minister to increase the number of activities for children to teach them about recycling and waste management and for more competitions, games and initiatives to encourage people and businesses to recycle more.

Speaking at the event, Dinja Wahda Manager, Nicolette Falzon, said, “We launched the Dinja Wahda programme for this school year by emphasizing the importance of adopting a lifestyle that protects nature round the clock, whatever we are doing. This happened to coincide with the designation of 2013 by the European Union as the Year of Citizens.

“As active citizens it is important to bear in mind not only our rights and responsibilities towards society, but also our responsibilities towards the environment. ‘Dear Minister’ helps children to do just that, by presenting their concerns to the Government in order to encourage changes for the better care of the natural environment in Malta.”

In his responses to the issues raised by the children in their letters, Minister Brincat emphasised the need to increase awareness about the importance of biodiversity for the health of the environment, saying that some adults he meets don’t appreciate why biodiversity is so important.

The Minister also stressed that it is important for Malta to improve its environmental credentials not just because it is obliged to by the EU, but because the Maltese people appreciate and understand the importance of protecting the environment for themselves and for future generations.

Vanessa Macdonald, spokesperson for Dinja Wahda sponsors, the Bank of Valletta, said, “Dinja Wahda is aimed at raising awareness about Malta’s rich natural heritage and it is wonderful to see the level of engagement of both teachers and pupils. Children are much more aware of the environment than we sometimes assume and their concern should really make us realise what a responsibility we have towards the Malta that they will inherit.”

Dinja Wahda is BirdLife Malta’s and Bank of Valletta’s environmental education programme for primary schools, carried out in collaboration with the Directorate for Quality Standards in Education (DQSE). ‘Dear Minister 2013’ was organised with the support of Malta International Airport and the European Commission Representation in Malta.

Photo – Jayden Aquilina, of St. Nicholas College Attard Primary school with the Minister for the Enivronment. Leo Brincat. – Photo by Michela Checchi/BirdLife Malta.

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