'Alpine' Mediterranean perspectives

Many people I know were somewhat perplexed that Innsbruck was recently chosen to discuss such burning and topical Mediterranean issues as the protection of the marine environment, biodiversity and deeper cooperation for the protection of the Mediterranean habitat within the structures of Empa, the Euro Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly.

The indefatigable and energetic chair of the Committee on Energy, Environment and Water, on which I represent the Maltese Parliament, happens to be Austrian and it is customary for such meetings to be frequently held in Austria itself.

What might have initially sounded strange and somewhat bizarre, in fact proved to be a telling experience, particularly since throughout our intensive meetings not only did we find ourselves addressed by a varied set of impressive keynote speakers that included the chair of the Italian Senate's Committee on the Environment, the head of the Institute for Ecology of the University of Innsbruck and a leading Greenpeace marine biologist who gave us a dispassionate over view on Defending Our Mediterranean but we also managed to engage in lengthy and fruitful discussions on the said subject.

Through a detailed presentation of how the Alpine Convention worked, we were able to study in depth how this framework could easily be applied within a Mediterranean context and dimension, particularly since it was presented to us as an international treaty for sustainable development that gave much importance to something we have recently approved in principle in Parliament, the concept and notion of spatial planning.

Two particular structures which struck me about the Alpine Convention is that, apart from having a specific protocol for the resolution of litigations - even though, admittedly, it is rarely used - they also have a compliance committee to make sure that most of what is agreed upon is implemented.

This was more or less the leitmotif of most of the interventions made: That we need to put our money where our mouth is and that the time of platitudes is long gone. We also need to come up with some concrete results to justify such international meetings while avoiding the sometimes inevitable pitfall of seeing them reduced to mere talking shops.

With the Italians having recently assumed the presidency of Empa, I was pleased on two particular counts. That, through their Senate environment chair, they seem to be pushing hard for the introduction of what has been termed as a Mediterranean Code as well as that the presidency itself seems strongly committed to putting the Mediterranean centre stage, within a marine environment context.

It is worth noting that this committee has already carried out sterling work in an area which can gain momentum once the long touted Desertec project comes on stream. I am referring particularly to its report on the potential, requirements and opportunities for implementing the Mediterranean solar plan, an excellent report which had as rapporteur another highly-experienced Italian parliamentarian - Rosario Giorgio Costa.

The Mediterranean deserves priority attention because, apart from being one of the main routes for oil cargo traffic in the world, with all the attendant risks of oil spills and potentially disastrous environmental damage, it also happens to be a zone that, by 2025, is expected to have its 220 million population counterbalanced and outweighed by an estimated tourist population of some 350 million.

According to statistics quoted in the same meeting, some 400 million tons of hydrocarbons are transported annually in the Mediterranean Sea with a daily presence of some 300 oil-related vessels (petroliere) crossing its basin.

In my two interventions, I drew on some of the conclusions reached by a leading Maltese biologist that all efforts in favour of sustainable development will succeed or fail depending on the degree to which various actors will endorse in practice the basic principles of sustainability. Unless we accept the fact that eco system services are the basis for our quality of life and economic development, all our efforts will prove to be pointless.

Not only must we strive for compliance monitoring of various key indicators but we need to know if our policies in the environmental sector are achieving their required objectives.

This can only be achieved once we stress the need to have environmental data readily available in a sustainable, reliable and validated manner.

Compounded with all this, we also need to have accounting systems in place for the actual services that eco systems provide.

It was encouraging to note that only a few days before we met in Innsbruck, thanks to the Unep Mediterranean Action Plan, for the first time ever, mandatory deadlines to reduce and eliminate obsolete chemicals, pesticides and pollutions originating from land-based industrial activities and agriculture have entered into force vis-à-vis all those countries party to the Barcelona Convention and the Mediterranean Action Plan.

We might still have a long way to go to achieve really tangible results but, at least, we should feel somewhat relieved and comforted by the fact that countries in the region have finally moved from a general statement to reduce chemicals to the establishment of very concrete and mandatory timelines and actions for reduction and elimination. No wonder Unep/MAP key officers claimed that this marks the beginning of a new phase in the implementation of the Barcelona Convention, where verbal commitments are now framed by concrete deadlines for action.

As a result-oriented person, I will pass final judgment once the implementation process really gets under way.

The author is shadow minister for the environment, sustainable development and climate change.

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