Last week the Prime Minister inaugurated the €60 million sewage treatment plant at Ta’ Barkat (see page 27).

During the inaugural ceremony, my mind drifted to a Chris Rhea song entitled Road to Hell. Penned in the late 1980s, the song reflected the disregard we humans had for the environment, an attitude which was putting us on the road to damnation.

Thankfully, we have changed our attitude. Today there is much more sensitivity to environmental issues.

We care and react when we feel the environment is threatened or is not being protected. Through our collective action, both at an international and at a local level, we have started to reverse some of the negative impacts of our past deeds.

The Ta’ Barkat plant is a case in point. Up to a few years ago, our sewage was deposited untreated into the seas. As a result, the quality of our bathing waters suffered.

In his song, Rhea speaks of water that boils with every poison you can think of. Some of our waters fell within this definition.

In 2005, only 40 per cent of our water achieved favourable status.

Today all our sewage is treated before being discharged into the sea. We are the only Mediterranean country to do so. This is an environmental achievement to be proud of. It did not come cheap.

Ta’ Barkat is the one of three sewage treatment plants built over the past four years.

The three plants cost over €100 million. This money went into waste but was not wasted.

The latest data shows that Malta has 98 per cent of its bathing water of good or excellent quality.

We are the best performing EU country in this sector.

We are investing in improving other elements of our environment. The public transport reform project will enter the all-important execution phase next month.

Our old, quaint but environmentally insensitive buses are being replaced by modern, accessible buses that meet the most modern and rigorous European standards of emissions.

The fact that we taking off 500 polluting buses from our roads should lead to an improved quality of our air.

If as a result of having a more attractive fleet and a more user friendly service we manage to convince more people to leave their car at home and use public transport, then the improvement in the quality of air will be even higher.

Besides investing in the public transport system, government is also investing heavily in our electricity generation system to render it more environmentally friendly, efficient and secure.

We are going to do away with the Marsa power station and we are investing more in renewable energy sources.

Government is investing over €800 million between the public transport reform and the clean energy programme.

Over the past months we started to implement the Malta Environment and Planning Authority reform process.

There is consensus that we now have a Mepa that is much more environmentally friendly. Some are arguing that we might have swung the pendulum too far in favour of protecting the environment.

I, for one, remain convinced that it is better to err on the side of caution. We must promote development that is sustainable, that takes into account the economic, environment and social realities of our country.

These are some of the initiatives that we as a country are taking to improve our environmental credentials. The actions we are taking are bearing fruit.

Our achievements are the results of a collective effort. Government and its entities are working closer with environment non-governmental organisations and the public in pushing forward the environment agenda.

But we must remain vigilant. World Environment Day presents us with an opportunity to stop and think.

I urge you to think not only on what this government can do but of how each and every one of us can contribute to a better, cleaner, safer environment.

There are choices we need to make. Not just government, but each and every one of us.

We have an opportunity not just to speak for the environment but to act: to reduce emissions, to use our water judiciously, to reduce and recycle waste and to protect our biodiversity.

This is an opportunity to point the finger at ourselves and ask whether we can be doing more.

Dr de Marco is Parliamentary Secretary for the Environment.