The environmental deficit: A story of greed

Over the last three years, the government has most commendably tackled the country's economic deficit. While there is still a worrying gap between revenue and public expenditure, the annual deficit has been considerably reduced. Entry into the eurozone will force us to control it better.

On the other hand, the environmental deficit has remained stubbornly out of control, and is growing. In most major respects the environment has actually become worse, despite the Prime Minister's well-meant promises to make the environment a priority. Rarely has rhetoric exceeded reality more.

I propose to examine the environmental deficit in three parts.

Part 1 will focus on the deficit: What it is and why. Part 2 will deal with institutionalised vandalism and part 3 with Valletta: A City Betrayed.

I shall start by giving credit where credit is due. For, in the enveloping environmental gloom there has been the odd shaft of sunlight. The launch of the first-ever National Heritage and Nature Park (Il-Majjistral) is a most enlightened and overdue initiative - a great step forward.

Several minor and medium-sized restoration projects have been completed. Wayside chapels and other historic monuments have been saved. Refurbishment of a number of beautiful public gardens has been skilfully undertaken. Some afforestation projects - when they have not been destroyed by disaffected characters - have started. Some new roads to be proud of have been laid.

The Valletta Waterfront and Cottonera Waterfront projects are outstandingly successful. Some coastal and village promenades have been completed. The old city of Mdina can be ranked among the most beautiful mediaeval cities in the world. The management of cultural heritage sites under Heritage Malta's tutelage has greatly improved. The country's waste management strategy is well-founded, the monster of Maghtab all but tamed. Roadside advertising is properly organised and controlled. Some old quarries are being filled in and converted to vineyards. The introduction of a "park and ride" scheme into Valletta is a commendable start in the right direction.

But all these are far outweighed in my judgment by all the other combined deficiencies in our environment. The evolving state of our environment in the last few years has been like watching a car crash in slow motion. Rampant over-development and land abuse, the progressive destruction of urban conservation areas and village cores, the creeping urbanisation of Gozo. These savage our past and intrude, for the worse, into every aspect of our lives. They exacerbate the deficit, of which unbridled construction - fuelled by huge sums of cash looking for a respectable home - must bear the major brunt of the blame.

The shabby state of our islands scarred by dumps and litter - despite the Prime Minister's worthy vow soon after he took office of "zero tolerance" on this, our chokingly poor air quality, excessive noise pollution, the threat to our fresh water quality, inland coastal waters and marine environment, the pressures on our remaining biological diversity and the gross impact of excessive transport use and solid and liquid waste add up to a picture of a country running a huge - and uncontrolled - environmental deficit.

Even though a halting start has been made under the, thankfully, watchful eye of the EU, the ground which has still to be made up in the regulatory and implementation fields is formidable and growing.

Of course, Malta's small size and heavy population density make us environmentally more vulnerable. But these factors are all the more reason for us to care better for our environment. Air quality suffers as a result of inefficient energy generation and excessive transport use. Greenhouse and other toxic gases add to global warming and particulate air pollution from quarrying and building construction poison the atmosphere we breathe. Renewable energy sources are a distant dream. Water quality in our aquifers is at risk from the most profligate over-extraction and from fertilisers and other intense agricultural practices.

Our inshore sea waters are suffering from marine contamination hazards, including sewage, oil spills and land-based discharges and a range of pollutants. Despite major improvements to the sewerage system, effluents are still discharged untreated into the sea, resulting in pollution, the degradation of our marine flora and fauna and health threats to bathers and divers. The islands' rare natural habitats are under threat and many have been obliterated by concrete. A number of endemic species have become extinct. In all these areas, Malta lags well behind the benchmarks set by the EU.

Why is it that the environmental deficit is so large and growing? One of the key reasons is that regulation is lax and there is no overall national strategic plan for the environment. Expediency, greed and political opportunism rule. Rather than an overall plan for sustainable development which links the economic, social and environmental issues together, we adopt a piecemeal approach.

The National Commission for Sustainable Development, on which I sit, produced a first-class Strategic Plan, which was launched by the Prime Minister and the Minister for the Environment with considerable fanfare in April 2006. Since then - 18 months ago - it has languished. The Cabinet has failed either to endorse it or, worse, to provide the minimal manpower resources necessary to coordinate and drive the Strategic Plan for Sustainable Development forward.

The principles of sustainable development - which include the multitude of concerns on the environment - need to be placed at the centre of government, into all decisions, policies and the way it operates. A workable sustainability plan is the greatest test facing Malta's machinery of government since our accession to the EU. But for the implementation of such a plan to succeed there must be the determination - the exercise of political will - to convert the strategy into a dynamic action plan. This has been absent.

The second reason is the lack of enforcement of the law in the environmental area, the government's blatant omission in successive budgets to provide the additional resources needed and the sheer absence of the political will to do anything about it. The rule of law will only be observed if there is a conscious redirection by the government of resources to environmental law enforcement together with the application of political backbone which has hitherto been missing.

Illegal boathouses abound and continue to be tolerated. Illegal structures continue to be constructed (though, in fairness to the Minister for the Environment, a law to enforce quick action to deal with this is belatedly being passed). Buildings outside the development zone continue to be "sanctioned" by Mepa; that is they are made legal. Illegal hunters' and trappers' hides continue to scar the countryside. Illegal hunting and trapping continue (and Malta appears to be prepared to defy EU law to pursue this unconscionable "sporting tradition"). Vehicles - chief among them public transport - continue to spew out poisonous gases.

Illegal water extraction continues to deplete our precious and irreplaceable mean sea level water aquifer. The state of building construction sites continue to defy government site management regulations. Littering continues unabated. Illegal dumping in the midst of our remaining cultural landscape continues. Our once beautiful coastline continues to be defaced by extraneous structures and tourism development. The stench and slurry of tuna pens continue to afflict large parts of our sea. Construction development is permitted to intrude on cultural heritage sites. The ecology and natural habitats continue to be threatened by illegal construction. Public footpaths in the countryside continue to be illegally closed. Illegal noise pollution is endemic.

Failure to enforce the law - a lack of national discipline - lies at the core of the environmental deficit. Lack of application of the law brings the government into disrepute and undermines respect for the rule of law which is the very basis of a civilised society.

At the root of the problem - a direct cause and reflection of the environmental deficit - is our greed and avarice. Rather than combat it, the government appears to condone it under the mantra of "economic development", crucially forgetting that economic growth on its own is not progress. Excessive construction development dogs Malta's environment.

We are collectively running an environmental deficit and mortgaging the next generation's quality of life for selfish, short-term economic gain. When a country is in environmental overdraft - as Malta is - it is surely wise to try to keep the next generation out of bankruptcy by taking determined steps to reduce the deficit, not increase it.

Mr Scicluna is a member of the National Commission for Sustainable Development. He is a council member of Europa Nostra and sits on the board of the International National Trusts Organisation. He is also vice president of Din l-Art Helwa.

Tomorrow: Institutionalised vandalism