Climate change was poised to become a major driver of population displacement and the outcomes were unpredictable, MEP Simon Busuttil warned yesterday.
"Put simply, climate change will cause population movements by making certain parts of the world much less viable places to live in. Food and water supplies will become more unreliable and the frequency and severity of floods and storms will be increased," he said.
Dr Busuttil was speaking at the Climate Change and Regional Economic Development seminar, chaired by Ranier Fsadni and organised by AŻAD together with the Centre for European Studies at the Phoenicia Hotel, in Floriana.
Several interesting, even if at times dire, predictions were made on how climate change was affecting the Mediterranean and African regions and the floor raised some valid questions.
One of the concerns raised was how climate change would affect migration patterns in the Mediterranean and as a result add to the pressures Malta was facing through illegal immigration.
Dr Busuttil referred to Nigeria, were 3,500 square kilometres of land were estimated to be turning into desert every year. As the desert advanced, farmers and herdsmen were forced to move, either squeezing into the shrinking area of habitable land or forced into already overcrowded cities.
"Such situations will result in an explosion in immigration," he said, referring to a report by the New Economics Foundation.
Solutions for African poverty required strategies that controlled diseases, agricultural modernisation, ecological conservations and adoption of new technology.
Cooperation also required the role of businesses and civil society organisations, he stressed.
Highlighting examples of how the European People's Party was tackling climate change, Dr Busuttil said sustainability had to be the choice of a global society that thought ahead and was open to cooperation.
"A business-as-usual path is not an option. We are already facing a crisis with current immigrations patterns... Markets will not do the job themselves and social norms do not suffice," he said.
Hydrologist Marco Cremona questioned how Dr Busuttil could speak about solutions for African countries when Malta was being investigated for not contributing enough towards overseas development aid.
In reply, Dr Busuttil said it was unfair to make this point in the light of the disproportionate burden the island had to shoulder with regard to illegal immigration. Plus, as a member of the EU, Malta was contributing towards the EU budget, he added.
"The 180 immigrants that landed in Malta this week are the same as if 36,000 landed in Germany, which reflects the disproportionate amount of immigrants landing on the island," he said.
Resources Minister George Pullicino, who closed the half-day seminar, spoke about the government's vision for 2015 and the scale of the challenge this posed, especially to achieve its targets for tourism, health and education.
He referred to the recently-appointed committee for climate change, which will, within 20 weeks, present him with a set of recommendations on how to address climate change and fulfil Malta's EU obligations.
Mr Pullicino pointed out that Malta was already on the way: "It is not generally known, for example, that Maltese exports of algae-based products have already superseded the exports of Maltese potatoes".
The potential of the sea to yield important new resources and the market for maritime-related technologies and services should not be underestimated, he said.