Forging a strategy for sustainable development

A sustainable development strategy, which ensures future generations may live, means that we need to change our way of life, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said yesterday.

Dr Gonzi was addressing members of the public, experts, politicians and representatives of NGOs and civil society at the Mediterranean Conference Centre in Valletta, most of whom called for policies to be translated into action.

A national conference yesterday discussed a wide-ranging report drawn up by a task force of the National Commission for Sustainable Development before a final version of the strategy is submitted to Cabinet for approval.

The Commission, chaired by Dr Gonzi, was set up to ensure that development does not only yield to short-term gain but also to a better quality of life in the long term.

Dr Gonzi said ingrained habits and practices amounting to an unsustainable way of life are among the most difficult to let go.

"I believe it is possible to achieve with active participation and a national consensus," he said.

With its small territory and one of the highest population densities in the world, Malta - like other small island states - faced huge challenges, such as climate change and waste management.

"Sustainable development does not equate to a torpid economy or sluggish growth. Development implies a change for the better, which includes material prosperity," he said.

People's participation was important for a sustainable development strategy because the public has a democratic right to take part in decisions. Participation is not passive criticism but the involvement of all stakeholders to achieve the targets ahead, the prime minister said.

Matthew Quinn, director of the Welsh assembly's strategic policy unit, said sustainable development should be the overarching aim of policy and the key challenge is to engage everyone in taking action.

"We need to rethink the way we use land and the way we travel," Mr Quinn said.

Economist Lino Briguglio, who chaired the session on economic development, said the sustainable development strategy was a difficult political exercise because it entails achieving a wide national consensus involving stakeholders with conflicting interests.

Economist Gordon Cordina said the present generation was seeking a sustainable balance faced by three main unprecedented phenomena: global competition, the need to protect the environment and the demographic shift.

Malta is living beyond its means economically because it is importing more goods than it is exporting and since it was over-exploiting the environment.

Speaking on public finance, economist Edward Scicluna said the government plays a significant role in sustainability, given its involvement in production, consumption of goods, investment, its role as a redistributor of money and in the fact that it is the largest employer in the country. It should therefore set an example.

Professor Scicluna said the Cabinet should take ownership of the NCSD document, suggesting that the government start by carrying out a strategic environment assessment (SEA) on all its operational programmes to see in what ways these do not comply with the principles of sustainable development.

A question of justice

In an intervention from the floor, Alternattiva Demokratika chairman Harry Vassallo said sustainable development is a question of justice. The crux of the issue is that what has been disregarded for years - such as hazardous waste emissions by industries into the environment - is now starting to form part of business accounts.

In an intervention on the natural environment, marine biologist Carmen Mifsud said Malta's rich biodiversity and endemic species were on the decline or had been lost because of exploitation.

Biologist Victor Axiak said waste generation was an indicator of a country's level of sustainability. The fact that between 1996 and 2004 Malta had increased the amount of waste by around 50 per cent said a lot about the state of sustainability.

One area that should be tackled urgently is liquid waste, including sewage, which is dumped into the sea daily.

A person who intervened from the floor said implementing such a strategy required moral honesty from the public and action from the authorities.

"We should be prepared to fork out money for the damage caused by our waste and vacate the boathouse we've occupied illegally for years," one person said.

Environment Minister George Pullicino called on civil society to look beyond the sacrifices that may be needed to achieve certain goals.

He said the benefits reaped through environment protection should be seen in terms of economic and social benefits. But this entailed mature discussions, which do not turn emotional or are used to achieve political mileage.