Towards sustainability

The National Commission for Sustainable Develop-ment (NCSD) recently published the third draft of its discussion document entitled A Sustainable Development Strategy for the Maltese Islands 2006-2016.

The document has not yet been fully endorsed as official government policy but it is improbable that it should undergo any further major overhauls at this late stage. In a nutshell, the NCSD document puts forward Malta's national sustainable development strategy by merging environmental and resource management issues with economic and social development needs.

The report sets strategic directions for five major sectors - environment, the economy, society, cross-cutting issues, and implementation - identifying 20 specific priority areas for action.

Malta's commitment towards submitting a national sustainable development strategy originally stems from the outcome of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) held in Rio de Janeiro. In September 2000, Malta was also among 150 states which became signatories to the Millennium Declaration.

This declaration was intended to strengthen support for sustainable development principles and initiatives in conjunction with the Agenda 21 vision agreed upon during the 1992 UNCED. Even nowadays, however, the reality is that striking the right balance between environmental and developmental needs remains a tough task at all levels; both national and global. Adhering to strict timeframe-defined targets intended to promote sustainability - including the ones currently proposed in the NCSD document - may be far from easy.

Environment

The NCSC strategy proposal lists eight priority strategic directions for the local environment sector. These encompass the management of climate change, air quality, nature and biodiversity, groundwater, seawater, wastes, land use and transport. So far, Malta's success level in adequately managing these respective environmental sectors has been differentiated.

Whereas, say, Malta has apparently registered significant progress in addressing compliance needs with respect to the EU Bathing Water Directive and hence supposedly securing an acceptable status for seawater quality in general, the State of the Environment Report 2005 (SoE 2005) indicates that we may still be facing very serious problems in the management of our groundwater resources. The SoE 2005 not only indicates that nitrate and chloride levels in groundwater aquifers needs checking, but the quantitative status of the aquifer is also a matter of concern. Clearly, practices leading to groundwater over-extraction are central to this issue.

As for transport, another important aspect among various others tackled in the NCSD document, it appears that there is urgent need of implementing a more adequate national sustainable transport policy. The fact that the number of vehicles per capita has more than doubled since 1986, from 0.33 to 0.7, surely merits careful assessment taking into consideration both environment and health related impacts and the limits imposed by our road network and urban areas themselves.

It is hard not to argue that the rate of traffic volume increase in our islands is fast approaching an unsustainable threshold. Or rather, some would comment, this threshold may have already been exceeded. But then, shouldn't a small island state like ours benefit from an affordable, efficient and reliable public transport network covering all parts of the island, after all?

Socio-economics

The NCSD paper puts forward seven priority strategic directions for economy and society. These include economic growth, employment, labour productivity, poverty reduction, labour force participation of women, health, and education. In principle, the significance of the proposed sustainable development strategy document lies in its addressing these themes congruent to environmental issues.

An interesting aspect that emerges in the strategy is reference to the use of economic instruments. The strategy proposes that the present income tax regime should be adjusted such that the "ratio of green taxation to total taxation" reaches the EU average by 2010. The issue that inevitably arises is whether this actually entails a revision, if not a major overhaul, of the current eco-contribution regime.

If yes, is the strategy effectively proposing a proportionate increase in green taxation, thus moving closer towards the ideals underpinning the polluter pays principle?

From an environmental standpoint, a more rigorous application of the polluter pays principle only makes sense as long as the revenue derived is allocated exclusively for environmental amelioration purposes. Simply enhancing public conscience is not enough.

Irrespective of environmental and sustainability issues, however, altering the green taxation regime should be most sensitive to the overall economic and social implications. This may even entail a detailed analysis, done beforehand, of economic growth patterns and trends.

Otherwise, green taxation may rather translate into a cause of social hardship rather than an effective environmental management tool.

We certainly need to go beyond the ideals promulgated in the commendable document prepared by the NCSD. Promoting sustainability is not about confronting political ideologies. Ultimately, however, implementing the proposed national sustainable development strategy largely depends on the extent to which our political leaders - from all political formations - are determined to have the job done.

Alan Pulis, B.Ed. (Hons.), Dip. Env. Sc., M.Sc. (Lond.), teaches Environmental Science and Chemistry at the Giovanni Curmi Higher Secondary School in Naxxar.