Government sets out ambitious plan to improve the environment

The long-term plan is this: Malta will be a “low-carbon, zero-waste society” by 2050. However, the National Environment Policy, which was launched yesterday for con­sultation, deals mostly with the next 10 years.

“By 2020, the Maltese environment will be providing an improved quality of life, which will result in improved well-being, increased appreciation of Malta’s natural and cultural environment, and a strong sense of pride in Malta’s environment,” the 100-page policy document states.

“Malta will have effectively addressed its main environ­­­­men­tal problems, implementing its national, EU and international environmental responsibilities and achieving economic prosperity and well-being for its people in a sustainable and environmentally-responsible manner.”

Many of the 200 or so proposals listed in the document, spanning climate change to noise pollution, are not new, including the public transport reform or the government’s plans to invest in renewable energy.

The more cynical of readers may point out that the policy is littered with somewhat bureaucratic proposals for more action plans, strategies, working groups and reviews of current legislation. But as Parliamentary Secretary Mario de Marco pointed out, this was a 10-year plan providing a holistic overview of the government’s direction. The nitty-gritty would have to come at a later stage. Also, many of the action plans were already drawn up and simply needed to be implemented.

The policy document makes some mention of environmental taxation but its emphasis is that the environment is an opportunity, not just a challenge. And with the help of the general public and, particularly, the private sector, the government hopes to generate thousands of jobs by prioritising environmental issues.

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi highlighted this point during a joint press conference with Dr de Marco yesterday at the Xrobb l-Għaġin park in Delimara, where he also took the opportunity to highlight the government’s many recent achievements, particularly the creation of open spaces and parks which families can enjoy.

“The environment has now risen on the political agenda,” the policy document declares.

But Dr Gonzi insisted the environment was the government’s genuine priority, “not just a political slogan”.

“No previous government has cared so much about the environment,” he said.

He was reminded, by one of the journalists from the Labour Party stable, of one of his government’s biggest environmental headaches: the Delimara power station extension. Dr Gonzi reiterated that the government’s ultimate plan was to convert it from being a power station that uses heavy fuel oil, to one that fires gas. He refused to be drawn into estimating how much this late conversion would cost.

He said the most difficult part of the policy to implement would be that dealing with land use and development. Due to Malta’s tiny size, every inch was sacred, he said, elaborating on the need to balance development with respect for the environment and conservation. Meanwhile, Dr de Marco stressed the importance of enforcement, saying there was no point having a policy or a law if it was not followed.

While the policy addresses Malta’s EU commitments and international obligations, it does not stop there. It also deals with local issues such as construction dust, noise pollution and the elusive black dust.

The policy also tackles the way Malta will be affected by global issues like climate change and other environmental risks such as earthquakes, tsunamis, fires, oil spills, nuclear processes and “invasions of alien species”.

Inauspiciously, the island will only be prepared for such incidents after the superstitiously dreaded year 2012.

As one would expect with a 10-year plan, most of the deadlines are set for after the next general election, meaning that much of the plan may be left to another government to deal with.

Green party Alternattiva Demo­kratika was quick to point out that the document is “mostly a collation of the accumulated responsibilities Malta has in the environmental field and which have been heavily neglected over the years”.

“The proposed policy is primarily an exercise in rhetoric by a government which has promised a lot and failed miserably,” AD said, pointing out that many of the proposals were addressed in a previous sustainability strategy whose target dates had elapsed long ago.