Editorial

Speaking at a press conference on the occasion of World Health Day with the theme of protecting health from climate change, the Minister for Resources and Rural Affairs announced that a seven-strong team of experts had been appointed to devise a plan to reduce Malta's greenhouse gas emissions. The team will be working over the next two months, formulating the action it needs to take in the next five years.

Also present at the press conference was the Parliamentary Secretary for Health, who gave a graphic description of the effects of climate change not just on health but also on every aspect of our lives: The increasing incidence of extreme weather events, the drastic effects on our precious water supply, the increasing risks of water-borne diseases, the coastal flooding as a result of rising sea levels, the effects of warming on our marine ecology and the effects on agriculture.

He left unsaid the severe potential economic and social consequences of the effects of all these on our tourism industry, the pressures of dwindling and ever more costly energy resources and the mass illegal immigration which will result as lack of water, food and inhospitable climates drive peoples to search for new places to survive. The picture is not pretty. And the time left to prepare for these extremely serious potential challenges is short. It may sound like doomsday but it is a reality we must face through resolute action. What is needed is an action plan for Malta to cope with the potential consequences of life-changing climate change. This will involve not only the worthy and necessary attempt to devise ways of reducing greenhouse gas emissions through the use of alternative energy sources - as directed by the EU - but also every other aspect of this complex problem. The response to climate change has to be holistic, dealing with every element of the economic, social and environmental consequences.

The challenges to be faced affect principally the continuity and stability of our vital energy and water supplies. The effects on tourism of global warming and climate change. The reliability and availability of food supplies to a country that imports virtually everything to feed its people. The demands on health infrastructure of protecting people from new diseases. Possible illegal immigration on a scale hitherto not experienced by this country. The effects on the built environment of rising sea levels and coastal flooding in a country as small and crowded as this.

The government now needs to start drawing up contingency plans to cope with every aspect of this vexed issue. To those who would argue that it is some while before the possibly cataclysmic effects of global warming begin to impinge on our lives, the response must be that they have already started - and may only get worse. The price of some staple foods has already escalated. Malta's energy supplies and power generation sources are already over-stretched. Mean sea level water aquifers are under severe threat. The fishing zones have already been affected. These, and other matters, are likely to get worse. Contingency planning, which brings together all the factors involved, is not only prudent and sensible but also an essential duty of any responsible government.

The Prime Minister has personally taken Malta's sustainability under his wing. The challenges of sustainable development in the face of the formidable problems stemming from climate change and global warming are such as to require the leadership and commitment of every part of government and every facet of civil society.

Although responsibility for climate change rests with the Minister for Resources and Rural Affairs, strong inter-ministerial coordination under the Prime Minister will need to be exercised bringing together every department of government - health, social policy, tourism, energy and water resources, renewable energy, finance (of course), home affairs, agriculture and fisheries and environment - to prepare an action plan for climate change.

May the forecast disastrous effects of climate change never happen. But if they do, Malta needs to be fully prepared.