Routes over roots

Abstract

July saw hundreds take to the streets of Attard, in the centre of the island of Malta, to protest the approval of the Central Link project, which will increase road space at the expense of over 500 trees. In the same month, a €20 million underpass project was announced in Santa Luċija. Local residents and activists raged as green crosses began appearing on trees earmarked for removal, and authorities severely pruned olive trees lining the Santa Luċija jogging track to prepare them for transplantation. Later, the Times of Malta reported eyewitness accounts of olive trees being trucked to a field in Dingli, where they remained for just a few days before being returned to their original location in Santa Luċija.