Samba, widely viewed as Brazil's national music style, was developed in Rio de Janeiro under the influence of immigrant black people from the Brazilian state of Bahia. Its roots are African, mainly from Angola.
This samba connection is a fitting backdrop to a significant Rio contribution. In 1992, between June 3 and 15, Rio hosted the Earth summit. A total of 172 governments participated, 108 being represented by their head of state. Malta was there too and participated in discussions leading to the approval of: The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, Agenda 21 and two Framework Conventions, one on climate change the other on biodiversity.
I will today limit myself to Agenda 21. This is an action plan for the 21st century intended to phase in a new type of "development", one which is not motivated solely by profit, but also by respect for people and the planet: sustainable development. It identifies problems caused by "development", lays down recommended paths and emphasises that economic, environmental and social concerns are not to be considered in isolation but in a holistic manner.
This is the most substantive document endorsed by all the government representatives at Rio: "It reflects a global consensus and political commitment at the highest level on development and environment cooperation. Its successful implementation is first and foremost the responsibility of governments" (Agenda 21, Preamble para. 1.3).
Agenda 21 institutionalised an unprecedented degree of NGO involvement through its emphasis on subsidiarity, participation and open government. Even regimes that clearly are opposed to democratic participation in principle did not feel strong enough to oppose this. At Rio, no NGO was accused of being eco-fundamentalist or of having a hidden political agenda! Civil society, it was affirmed, has a direct role to play as of right in the implementation of Agenda 21.
Based in part on Agenda 21 a draft National Sustainable Development Strategy for the Maltese Islands (2007-16) was finalised on December 20, 2006 thereby concluding a consultation process that had commenced four years earlier. As far as is known, 15 years after the Rio Earth summit, this strategy is still awaiting adoption by the Maltese government. In its underlying principles, it recognises that, to date, in spite of the "remarkable efforts" towards environment protection, national priority has often shifted excessively towards economic requirements (draft strategy, para. 2.2).
It is about time we act decisively before we have nothing worth protecting; before economic exigencies would have jeopardised completely our environmental fabric. This is not an eco-fundamentalist view as some advocates of "development without limits" would have us believe. It is a realistic perspective of those who have a long-term view, in contrast to the myopic short-termism so prevalent in our political landscape.
The (draft) strategy tackles the environmental challenges facing Malta in 10 sectors, namely, air quality and climate change, energy efficiency and renewable energy sources, biodiversity, fresh water, waste, the marine and coastal environment, land use, transport, natural and technological risks and the impacts of leisure.
Some in the corridors of power are known to have argued that the National Sustainable Development Strategy may prove to be too costly to implement. They may be aware of the financial costs but they have to date generally ignored the social and environmental costs of development we have been paying up for quite a while! It's time they pause to ponder as to whether they know the price of everything but the value of nothing! Agenda 21 adopted at Rio has invited us to change our behaviour as a nation. Fifteen years down the line, brakes to its implementation are still being applied. Can we afford to continue paying lip service to the principles adopted at the Rio Earth summit? Environmental tokenism is unfortunately still the order of the day with (hollow) political declarations in favour of the environment only being made on the basis of electoral calculations. We need action based on conviction not on compulsion.
Rather than dancing to the rhythm of opinion polls, Malta's environmental politics should focus on the Rio principles and their early implementation. But then, given the prevalent conservative genetic pool, the samba rhythm may be too fast for the local political class!
Mr Cacopardo is an architect and civil engineer, specialising in sustainability and environmental management.
cacopardocarm@euroweb.net.mt