User:Suburbium/FAA

'Flimkien ghal Ambjent Ahjar' (FAA) is a non political pressure group and a Non-Governmental Organisation (VO/0101) composed of citizens who are concerned about the threat to Malta's heritage and environmental well-being caused by over-development of our islands.

FAA came onto the Maltese environmental scene with its founder members' Stand Up and Be Counted open letter which was published in the press in March 2006, and signed by over 400 people. The response to this, from people of all political beliefs, from all walks of life and from all over Malta was overwhelming and led to the formation of FAA.

Later that same year, on the 10th of June 2006, FAA organised its first rally which was an outstanding success, the largest environment rally to be held in Malta to date, and supported by 18 different environment NGOs. On 19th.July 2006, yet another rally was organised by FAA, calling upon concerned citizens to raise their voices and march in protest against the opening up of the countryside to development through the so-called 'Rationalisation Plans'.

Flimkien ghal Ambjent Ahjar constantly strives for a number of EU directives and the Aarhus Convention, to which Malta subscribes, to be upheld and to safeguard Maltese citizens' rights to environmental information, and participation in the decisions that affect their surroundings.

Also in July 2006, Flimkien ghal Ambjent Ahjar lobbied hard to save the "Tal-Papa" fields from the building boundary expansion. The fields comprised over 130 fruit trees, diverse crops all the year round, one large reservoir with a large well beneath, five other wells and five flooded shelters as extra reservoirs. Still Government insisted that it was not agricultural land and that it did not have its own water supply. A parliamentary report on The Times of Malta of the 25th of July, published comments from a Government MP, stating he would table documents from the Agriculture Department showing that the Tal-Papa area was not agricultural." FAA intervened to underline Government representatives misinformation on the matter, and that MP's were not bothering to visit the sites themselves before deciding to destroy some of the most precious gems in the Maltese countryside. The statement summed up how tragically misguided the whole Rationalisation Process had been.