Healing this once fair land

Friends visiting Malta are shocked with how we have overbuilt it and plead not to destroy Gozo in the same way. The State of the Environment Report for 2005 that has just been published reaches the same sad conclusion: "...landscape is threatened by increasing built-up area, industrial and coastal development, taller buildings on urban fringes obstructing views of historical centres, modern agricultural practices, increasing vehicular access, littering, poor standards of design and work, and lack of maintenance." The report also warns: "Some important areas of high quality landscape character, particularly in Gozo and Comino and inland Malta, have not yet been given statutory protection."

The report also predicts that the pressure will continue to bury more of our country under more and more vacant buildings. "This is resulting in loss of historic fabric, inappropriate design of new and restored buildings, and illegal excavations. Vehicle emissions and underlying factors such as residential vacancy also have a negative impact on cultural heritage."

The report rightly points out the need for a national strategic plan. "Malta will need to map out a sustainable development plan for the energy generation, transport and tourism sectors, as well as develop a basket of measures to address the nexus of social, environmental and economic issues surrounding house building and housing quality, availability and affordability."

"Overall, there is potential to improve national coastal and marine policy by integrating sectoral policy such as that on tourism and recreation, maritime activities, aquaculture and fisheries, and the environment." "...A better understanding of the links between environment and health in Malta is required to support effective policy-making."

Government is still refusing to draw up sectoral strategic plans, like in tourism. This gives rise to incoherent and contradictory policies that are leading to the plight we find ourselves in. The size of our country should make it easier for us to have a comprehensive national strategic plan integrating and co-ordinating policies and initiatives that are decided after authentic and wide consultations with the private sector, social partners and civil society. Government does not have the political will to draw up this much-needed comprehensive national strategic plan. The National Reform Programme (2005 to 2008) Malta's strategy for growth and jobs published by Government last October, is too weak and poor to serve as a national strategic plan.

Government believes that things fall in place on their own and that somehow the sum of different unco-ordinated and haphazard initiatives taken by different ministries and public entities will add up to an integrated total of beneficial policies. The State of the Environment Report for 2005 shows clearly that this is not the case. We have taken some steps forward in some areas but we still have a long way to go to improve our quality of life and heal this once fair land.

I have often heard ministers boast about the number of cars on our roads and use it an index of a good life and a high standard of living. The report states: "The rising numbers of motor vehicles have serious implications for the environment, human health and the economy in terms of air pollution, land take-up, noise, fuel consumption, road accidents, waste generation and congestion costs."

Air quality remains a problem. The report says that "nitrogen oxides pollution remains high in certain urban areas." "... Air quality in heavily trafficked and enclosed streets can be many times worse than a few streets away." "Malta's greenhouse gas emissions increased by 44 per cent between 1990 and 2003, and derive largely from the energy and transport sectors..."

The report calls for more efficient land use. "An in-depth investigation into the social and economic dynamics underpinning the apparent contradiction between high house prices and high rates of residential vacancy, including how this affects conservation goals, is urgently needed."

In need of a national strategy

Although optimistic that the urban sprawl has been contained in Malta since 1988, the report acknowledges: "Countryside quality is still threatened by localised intensification of urban development, dominating settlement edges, quarrying and certain agricultural and recreational practices. The rising interest in countryside issues, including access, is an opportunity to upgrade and improve its protection and management. Agricultural land abandonment, farm, intensification, improper farm management practices and fragmentation of ownership have negative impacts on the environment."

The quality of our soil has also continued to deteriorate. "Malta's principal soil contamination sources include point sources such as quarries, industrial facilities, and waste dumps, and diffuse pollution from aerial deposition of dust or combustion products, exhaust emissions, lead shot, agricultural chemicals and the application of manure and compost." No wonder then "that many rare and indigenous species are threatened and continue to decline."

The report shows a very serious shortcoming when it comes to Malta's freshwater resources. "So far, no private suppliers of water for human consumption have registered with the Health Department, which would ensure their compliance with Drinking Water Directive standards." This is very worrying as the report indicates, "that Malta's ground waters are seriously at risk from over-exploitation and pollution." "In 2004, nitrate levels at two thirds of WSC abstraction boreholes exceeded the Nitrate Directive trigger-value, and chloride levels (indicating salinity) in the mean sea level aquifer system all exceeded WHO quality standards."

Apart from being a health risk for us, these polluted waters are endangering various indigenous animals and plants and pushing them towards extinction.

The report points out the polluted hotspots we need to address in the sea around us: "inside harbours and near sewage outfalls, power station thermal discharge points, and to a lesser extent, in the vicinity of fish farms and Maghtab,"

The State of the Environment Report for 2005 calls for a review of the Solid Waste Management Strategy, for a formal environmental education curriculum policy, for more recognition and support for environmental NGOs, for the involvement of business in sustainable economic development, for the engagement of local councils in environmental issues, for the greening of public procurement processes for government to set the example and for a Government commitment to devote sufficient resources to have the necessary structures to put environmental laws into practice and to ensure enforcement. Most of all it calls on Government to draw up and implement a national strategic action plan with the active involvement of business, social partners and civil society.

So far Government has always dismissed the need for national strategic planning. There is no sign that Government is about to mend its ways and abandon its haphazard and unco-ordinated way of running this country.

evaristbartolo@hotmail.com