Summer recess notwithstanding, thanks to the collective effort of its human resources and external collaborators, our ministry has continued to pursue its strategic direction in sync with its electoral programme and Budget 2014 commitments.

About a week ago, I entrusted Prof. Louis Cassar, an eminent ecologist, to prepare a national outline plan on the potential for afforestation of Malta. Apart from taking stock of the existing situation of current locations and efforts embarked upon related to afforestation of the Maltese isles, he will identify the long-term action needed to safeguard and manage sites, the potential for woodland creation and management. This outline plan should ensure that proposals are in line with the national biodiversity strategy, the contribution to national action on climate change and provide new spaces for informal recreation that support an improvement in the quality of life for communities.

The findings of this report will be examined by the ministry in a consultative manner and the proposals will then be forwarded for government’s own consideration. The report is expected to be submitted by mid-October.

Earlier on, we formalised MoUs (Memorandums of Understanding) of a greening pilot project, with four strategically selected local councils in the north, centre, south and Gozo that happen to be among the most heavily traffic polluted.

It was interesting to read the professional, unbiased, brief study of the application of such street trees by your Anne Zammit in last Sunday’s environment page of your newspaper. Its positive suggestions will surely not go unnoticed. From a simple tree planter project, we would like to see the project progressively spread its wings countrywide as part of a ‘greening of the communities’ exercise.

The EU Environment Life project at Buskett is literally meant to breathe new life into a beauty spot in the north of the island, spread out over soil stabilisation and the safeguarding of the fauna on the Natura 2000 Buskett-Girgenti site, in a project meant to run until 2018. The safeguarding of the environment and addressing climate change challenges are among two of its main objectives.

Preparations of our Green Economy strategy and action plan are more than just a work in progress, spurred on further as we happen to be by the collective efforts and initiatives of the EU itself and beyond. One cannot dismiss lightly the importance the Italian EU Presidency has given to the greening of the economy in its first ever joint Environment-Labour Informal Ministerial meeting in Milan. It intends to continue these efforts.

Our waste management plan and strategy that also includes a waste minimisation programme focuses sharply on the resource efficiency that lies at the centre of the circular economy parameters that the outgoing EU Commission has been promoting extensively and consistently in the past months. The same can be said for the emphasis we are placing on ensuring that the way forward on waste to energy should be determined on both economic and environmental criteria.

As I recently had occasion to mention to a number of leading German industrialists who attended the roundtable event ‘Waste to Energy – Risks and Chances’, when we undertook to carry out a cost-benefit analysis to establish the most economically and financially feasible options between local thermal treatment and the export of waste, we did so not for the sake of playing for time – but rather to address the lack of up-to-date studies one expected to have been carried out already, given the authorities’ determination up to 18 months ago to pursue the incineration path blindly.

At present we have no local RDF treatment – since our RDF is today heavily contaminated, making it a hazardous cargo unless the quality of our own RDF improves substantially. Countries like the UK have recently discovered that the continued increase of RDF exports to Europe has led to a changed scenario, with shipping material to countries like Germany itself, the Netherlands, France and even the west of Sweden being able to be done cheaply.

By next month, the food waste issue should find itself ready to be integrated in the forthcoming educational waste management plan, with our three major priorities being the future relationship between Wasteserv and the private sector and local councils, the pilot introduction of a third ‘grey’ bag, as well as the placing of waste collection from commercial and food establishments on a sounder footing that truly respects stronger separation of waste at source.

The challenging demands of the Climate and Energy Package 2030 are likely to see our national position crystallised together with other EU member states before autumn is over. Malta is equally committed to ensure that result orientation will extend way beyond the regional, European and multilateral summitry that looms ahead in the coming months.

An item expected to evolve beyond the conceptual stage is the green building idea, but more about that in coming months by its own key proponents.

Meanwhile, behind-the-scenes work will continue on the Mepa demerger in consultation with the key stakeholders and unions, student-based green initiatives, the imminent climate and noise legislation, the work underway on the so-called Malta North Għallis project, the strengthening of Green Public Procurement, as well as our commitment to continue to rely on both capacity building and to give more voice to our Waste Stakeholders’ Group.

Leo Brincat is Minister for the Environment.