As a nation, we have a duty to protect, preserve and better our environment. As a government, we were elected to ensure that this duty is carried out. As of last week, the Prime Minister has chosen to involve me more directly in this race to better our environment.
This is not a short-distance race. It is rather a long-distance race in which we need to plan and take action now so that we safeguard the future of our environment.
Environment today features in the top list of people's priorities. People think about the environment as much as they do about the economy and their health. And so it should be.
Ultimately, the decisions and actions we take that have an impact on our environment will impact our economy and our health as well. This is why we need to factor in the environmental considerations in all the major policy decisions we take. Factoring in the environment does not necessarily always mean stopping development. It means developing in a sustainable manner.
As announced by the Prime Minister, over the coming weeks, the government will be strengthening its structures to ensure that sustainable development becomes a constant in government thinking at all levels. In my view, this could well turn out to be one of the most important and effective changes we are implementing. It places sustainable development even more at the centre of the government and as the building block on which all policies, not just environment policies, are built.
Our environment is regulated by over 200 European Union directives. These directives regulate pretty much every aspect of our built environment, flora and fauna, the marine environment, waste, soil, water and air. The regulations put on us reporting obligations and the duty to take action where our performance falls short of set levels. When the Nationalist government championed membership of the EU it did so also because of these environmental obligations. We wanted to bring our environment up to European standards. We believed then, as we do now, that we are capable as a nation of meeting the environmental challenges just as we are capable of meeting challenges in other spheres.
Meeting these obligations means investing in people and equipment. Much has been done but more needs to be done. We are now in the process of substantially strengthening the human resources of the Environment Protection Department (EPD) within Mepa. The EPD carries out sterling work, much of which is invisible to the public, in protecting and safeguarding our environment. The EPD has also applied for and secured EU funding to undertake monitoring programmes. These additional resources will come at a price. We recognise that this price, even if expensive, is cheaper than the cost of not taking care of our environment. It is money well spent.
The strengthening of the EPD is one element of the Mepa reform process, a process that has as an ultimate aim the protection of our environment. The initiatives of this reform have been debated publicly for many months. In less than two weeks, we shall debate them in Parliament. Our responsibility, however, is to ensure that the Mepa reform goes beyond the legislation necessary to implement a number of the proposed reform measures.
Over the coming weeks, we will launch the process for the drawing up of a national policy and strategy for the environment. As a result of the investments we made over the past years and of the investment we are making, we now have a clear idea of where our problems lie. We also know what solutions are available.
From the briefings I had on this subject, it is clear that these solutions are not always easy to implement. We need to address age-old practices. We need to upgrade part of our infrastructure. We need to change cultures. The reform of the public transport, the investment in new energy-generating technologies, the investment in waste handling and treatments plants and other initiatives underway are all solutions to environment-related problems. Our policy and plan will map out the challenges we want to address and set the course of how we intend to meet them.
The task at hand is by no means an easy one. We cannot get it wrong on the environment. I hope that the work we will be carrying out over the next three years will prove me green not because I was naïve in believing but because I was right in believing that environment matters.
Dr de Marco is Parliamentary Secretary for Tourism, the Environment and Culture.