The Environment Report 2008 (SoE 2008) and the accompanying indicators are yet another commendable effort teaming together various entities, not just the Malta Environment and Planning Authority's Environment Protection Directorate (EPD) but also the National Statistics Office, providing the public with a portrait of our islands' environment. This is in the spirit of the 1998 Aarhus Convention.

SoE 2008 presents a grim picture with regard to a number of key areas, an element of lack of clarity and uncertainty in some others but also some interesting positives that should not be downplayed.

The starting point is an analysis of the pivotal driving forces that contribute directly to the state of affairs of the Maltese environment. Demographic factors, the status of Malta's GDP, particularly in terms of the co-existence of an intensive construction industry and tourism - strange bed-fellows indeed on this small island of ours, supply and demand issues pertaining to the dwellings sector, power generation and its related implications mostly on air quality and Malta's climate change obligations, and which also ramifies into Malta's present dismal renewable energy status and future prospects, the transport challenge, are all fundamental components that must be closely evaluated a priori in order to assess the big picture of green.

With a staggering population density ranking among the highest in the world, the number of vehicles on our roads still exhibits an upward trend despite repeated calls on public transport reform over the years. Was it just hype, after all?

In 2008, Malta's quarried land area covered a total of 2.45 square kilometres, representing a 0.016 per cent increase on the previous year. Whereas human activities are directly responsible for the alarming levels, in some areas at least, of airborne particulate matter emanating from various sources, apart from quarrying and, not least, from power plants and vehicles themselves, it occurs as a natural phenomenon that our islands are typically exposed to high levels of tropospheric ozone. Malta's latitudinal position close to the equator makes this situation inevitable and practically beyond human control.

In previous SoE reports it was observed that transboundary tropospheric ozone is typically higher in rural areas than in urban sites. It may sound ironic that, apparently, noxious nitrogen oxide emissions from vehicles interact with potentially harmful tropospheric ozone and the two "destroy" each other chemically.

Perhaps it is quite surprising that atmospheric BTEX levels, pollutants emitted from petrol and including carcinogenic benzene, have been found within acceptable limits given the number of vehicles on our roads.

The monitoring of sulphur dioxide levels in ambient air, on the other hand, gives a clear positive signal. Is this purely the result of the burning of more costly low sulphur oil or also a consequence of a calcareous dust-laden atmosphere that neutralises the acidic nature of this substance?

Malta's total greenhouse gas emissions may be totally insignificant on a regional or global scale. Yet, local greenhouse emissions still exhibit an upward trend. It is pertinent to ask about the implications that might eventually arise if such a trend persists given Malta's commitments under the EU Climate and Energy Package. Are we already spiralling into a carbon tax regime?

Any novel market, such as the carbon market, exhibits an inherent high degree of uncertainty. The option between investing in high-tech power generation sources, conventional or not, and relying on the purchase of carbon allocations may still merit further investigation. Energy intensity of the economy, the energy consumed to create a unit of GDP, gives a positive signal and perhaps this implies an element of decoupling of economic growth from energy consumption.

It is not to be interpreted, however, that Malta is rapidly evolving into a green economy. The closest one gets on land use matters in the environment indicators 2008 report is organic farming, perhaps laying greater emphasis on the fact that, despite all the pressures, agricultural land still dominates the Maltese environment.

Polemics aside, it is hoped that once the Mepa reform is on, a strengthened EPD should be better positioned to safeguard agricultural land, which also carries a landscape value that cannot be quantified in monetary terms.

The dire straits of Malta's freshwater resource base, both in terms of quantity and quality, and the expected increase in dependence on costly reverse osmosis plants is well known. But this statement quoted from the SoE 2008 report itself, page 31, is truly shocking: "The difference between WSC water production (30.97 million m3 in 2007) and billed water consumption (15.57 million m3 in 2007) is made up of unaccounted-for-water (consumed but not billed) and real losses, which are related to leakages." Any further comment would be superfluous.

SoE 2008 states that environmental expenditure amounted to €81.8 million in 2007, up by 31 per cent from 2004, accounting for 1.5 per cent of GDP in 2007, and that over 90 per cent of this expense was directed at solid and liquid waste management.

There were an estimated 4100 green jobs in the Maltese economy in 2007 and, once again, this was principally in the waste sector. It should therefore be a point to ponder that on page 42 of the same document, the last sentence reads: "While municipal waste generation in EU-25 is projected to increase by 25 per cent over 2005 values by 2020, growth in Malta is expected to exceed 60 per cent." At this rate, I reckon, we should be arguing in the plural about mass burn incineration plants! Have we effectively cornered ourselves in being able to meet our EU obligations on waste?

Malta's biggest challenge is the implementation of a national policy on the environment, setting the ball rolling towards the evolution of a sustainable society.

The author specialises in environmental management.

sapulis@gmail.com