Best now than not at all
Not all is yet said about the Draft Environmental Policy, and whatever its timing or its tardiness, we must conclude that it is a comprehensive document that can, with the necessary political will for its implementation, be an indispensable tool for...
Not all is yet said about the Draft Environmental Policy, and whatever its timing or its tardiness, we must conclude that it is a comprehensive document that can, with the necessary political will for its implementation, be an indispensable tool for this Administration and for any future one. Yes, it perhaps should have been an earlier priority and, yes, it comes late in this term of office.
Nevertheless, the document fairly highlights requirements for improvement and enforcement of current legislation and the over-riding need for massive instruction at all levels, even within the government itself, regarding activities that impact hugely on our natural environment and quality of life. We can look at this document cynically, or we can look at it positively. An environmental policy for Malta we must have, so better to have this wide-reaching policy, and to have it now, than to have none. We must build on it and urge its implementation as many problems no longer wait.
With the growing recognition of the voice of civil society in the management of the island’s affairs, NGOs like Din l-Art Ħelwa working in the field of environmental protection have been invited to contribute to this document, and indeed the public can continue to submit recommendations until October 18.
Each NGO, active within its own individual sphere of expertise, has been able to comment on a myriad of issues concerning the use and abuse of our environment: concerns over crucial resources such as water, stone and the quality of our air, the protection of endangered habitats and species, of our visual environment, our cultural heritage and the landscape, egoistic and unregulated neighbourhood noise, freedom of access over public land, and more. The ability to highlight our concerns is already a great step forward and a milestone for those whose opinions have previously gone unheeded.
Certain aspects of the document are worth more discussion. While it is good that spatial planning will protect virgin land, DLĦ would like to see the policy offer further solutions so public spaces occupied illegally can be regulated. We look forward to the long awaited results for the study on stone, as well as to an analysis of the true contribution to our economy, promised by 2012, of our aquaculture activities vis-à-vis their right to occupy our best coastal waters, some only 200 metres away from the shore. For the protection and enhancement of our visual environment, we hope the draft can recommend that quality and design become parameters of planning regulations and that the “Right to Light” is defined with rationalised building heights. We urge that more resources are given to cultural heritage authorities for Malta to ratify the European landscape convention so areas of high visual beauty are enshrined by legislation while incentives listed in the chapter on built cultural heritage and landscape are welcomed wholeheartedly. These will stimulate restoration and rehabilitation to safeguard what is left of our pleasing traditional street and townscapes. An immediate opportunity for the implementation of this draft policy is the imminent budget which can establish wider benefits to encourage these activities both for owners and developers. This must not be missed.
Din l-Art Ħelwa has also long championed wider fiscal advantage to be given to benefactors and sponsors who offer support for restoration projects. As already done elsewhere in Europe, we should relax the noose on our narrow-minded broadcasting regulations for public recognition of such support in all sectors of the media. Reviews of both the current Cultural Heritage Policy and the final draft of this Environmental Policy should strongly recommend this.
Our overriding concern however, is that, while this document will, when formalised, undoubtedly be all-encompassing, it remains a strategic check-list which gives itself some generous deadlines. Many of the target dates must be improved. It will be an anxious wait till 2014 to know what contingency measures will be taken in the case of an environmental calamity. If current capacity does not permit improvement to the recommended delivery dates, then the government should lay down extra resources with the next budget to reach the environmental improvements earlier than the 2020 target for an enhanced quality of life.
Finally, the way the policy transmutes into a well-managed reality remains to be proven whichever Administration is in government.
An environmental policy hits all levels of society and is implemented by numerous government entities. The responsibility of its management points to the Office of the Prime Minister, but wherever it lies, it needs to be championed by a determined, coordinating body unafraid of taking difficult and sometimes unpopular action, so that this thorough comprehensive exercise in environmental auditing will not go to waste.
Ms Mizzi is executive president of Din l-Art Ħelwa