English: As the island continues to deal with an influx of concrete, Malta’s traditional rubble walls (known in Malta as ‘Ħitan tas-Sejjieħ) have also been susceptible to this obsession. But goverment trying to safe this old traditional agricultural wall built method. “The main aim behind the reconstruction of rubble walls is to limit soil erosion. Indeed, many of the reinstated walls were derelict in their state, leading to significant soil loss, especially during the wet season and sudden downpours.”

Dry stone walls have been traditional landscape elements for centuries: they have not only an historical value, but also give an important contribution to biodiversity protection in the rural environment. The interstices in these walls provide microhabitats to various plant communities, insects, reptiles and amphibians – due to the contextual presence of warm, cool, damp, dry, sunny and shady areas – as well as breeding sites for birds. They represent valuable stepping stones and insular biotopes in the agricultural landscape and, due to their linear structure, act as ecological connections. They also have a filtering function (rainwater flowing from a plot to another passes through the walls’ interstices capturing organic matter and leaving at the bottom of the wall a useful humus for soil regeneration) and allow excess rainwater to drain from the fields, benefiting agriculture production and minimising soil erosion.Dry stone walls are found everywhere in the Maltese islands – where they mainly serve as borders between fields and farms. The Government issued a dedicated regulation to protect them. This regulation declares rubble walls as ‘protected, in view of their historical and architectural importance, their exceptional beauty, their affording a habitat for flora and fauna, and their vital importance in the conservation of the soil and of water’.

Rubble walls could represent the most significant green infrastructure of the Maltese rural territory, being green infrastructure according to the EU definition.