Malta’s national environmental monitoring infrastructure and capacity has been significantly upgraded through an EU funded project which is in its final months of implementation.

The improved availability and reliability of information on the state of the environment will enable the development of more informed and better targeted policy measures in all spheres of public policy, including health, fiscal, economic, social and environmental domains.

€4.9 million have been invested in the procurement of environmental monitoring equipment, information management systems, delivery of environmental baseline surveys, training of staff, and the development and enhancement of the national monitoring programmes for air, water, radiation, noise and soil.

Mepa chairman Austin Walker said that once the project is completed later this year, Government entities and institutions could start to sustain long term effective and cost efficient environmental monitoring programmes.

Malta would also be going beyond the monitoring obligations stemming from the EU environmental acquis.

The high quality environmental data that is being generated through this project will be made available free of charge on a web-based environmental information system which would allow the public to access quality environmental data for a variety of purposes.

“Tthis will enable us, as a nation, to be more aware of the environmental trends affecting our health and quality of life,” Mr Walker said.

An important component of the project is the delivery of 3D terrestrial and bathymetric surveys which will result in a new updated high resolution baseline map for the Maltese islands within a nautical mile from the coastline.

These surveys will enable the creation of new nautical charts and facilitate land use and marine spatial planning, Saviour Formosa, a member of the Mepa project team said.