Saturday, 24th January 2009
Eighty-seven millimeters too far
The report on (long-overdue) action on climate change is welcome but falls eighty-seven millimeters far from being a bold, decisive step that will permanently change the state of affairs in Malta.
Eighty-seven is the number of proposals tabled by the Climate Change Committee. Some of the proposals, as the need for further investment in research on climate change deserve praise, yet the general approach seems to fail to take into account that this is a national crisis deserving urgent action.
In fact, just a quarter of the total proposals, that is 27 proposals, are assigned a deadline, which, in most cases is between 2013 and 2015, two years after the next election.
This is why the report is not bold enough. I fear that with this approach politicians are being encouraged to place political opportunism before a national crisis; by engaging in an endless discussion on the merits of the proposals contained in the report.
The report is also not bold enough because it does not make a strong case for the involvement of individual citizens and enterprises in the formulation of policy and initiatives aimed at reducing carbon emissions.
The committee should consider placing greater emphasis on the principle of public-private partnerships and on the open method of co-ordination. Reduction in carbon emissions should translate, as the report says, to culture change – a change of culture where the government is seen as a partner, rather than a big-daddy style initiator of policy.
The report also does not take into account the need for what should amount to a legal revolution. Malta argued in 1993 that climate change is a common concern of mankind.
It is for this reason that it is high time questions of climate and environment are enshrined in the Constitution. Mention should be made to a fundamental human right to clean and sustainable environment, respectful of the needs of future generations.
The proposals contained in the report feature no mechanism that will check the timely implementation of the proposals made. This is why a Climate Ombudsman should be set up. Its office should be entrusted with the analysis and ex officio investigation of climate related issues, and also with powers to report on the attainment of goals contained in the Climate Change Report.
Last summer, we at Insite – The Student Media Organisation, appointed two Environmental Officers who periodically report on the environmental sustainability of our activities, including our media. If a small student organisation can appoint individuals to keep its environmental responsibility in check, why shouldn’t a Government do so?
But, I believe, that the main bone of contention in the weeks to come should be persuading politicians to bind themselves to deliver on climate change by 2011, not 2015.
This makes political sense as we will finally have a government binding itself for this legislature and not future legislatures, which in politicese are akin to eternity. This will give us an opportunity to judge the climate track record of government in terms of actions, not of declarations come next elections.
It also makes economic sense as 2011 means the year of global economic recovery and means the year when research into environment and climate may be converted into market success.
But, above all, it is fair on me and on future generations.
I want to be part of a society that respects itself and its future, not one which misses the boat by just eighty-seven millimeters.
Matthew Mizzi is a fourth year Law student and is CEO of Insite – The Student Media Organisation. www.insiteronline.com
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