The proposed split of the Malta Environment and Planning Authority will not improve environmental protection unless there is a strengthening of political will, according to environmental experts.
It is the lack of political will that has resulted in Mepa not being given enough resources to fulfil its function of protecting the environment.
If the planners continue to have more power than those tasked with protecting the environment, nothing will change, say former assistant environment director Alfred Baldacchino and Alternattiva Demokratika deputy chairman Carmel Cacopardo.
Their comments were made after the government last week published four Bills on the separation of Mepa’s environment and planning functions.
“If the planners remain the ones with the power, nothing is going to change. What we need is not a Mepa split but a discovery of political will,” Mr Cacopardo said.
If the planners remain the ones with the power, nothing is going to change
The process for the split did not start off on a good note. The government published three Bills on the Mepa demerger totalling 400 pages of legislation that need to be concluded before Parliament’s summer recess.
The Opposition yesterday appealed to the Prime Minister to stop steamrolling the environment and give a suitable timeframe for debate. It presented a letter to the chair of the House Committee on Environment and Planning for the Bills to be debated there before they reach Parliament, so the public would have the chance to express their views.
Environmental organisation Din l-Art Ħelwa has already demanded more time for public consultation.
Environmental groups and experts contacted by this newspaper all said they were still in the process of going through the details in each Bill. Yet a common view emerged – the planning function should be secondary to environmental considerations and not the other way around.
Land-use is one of the major environmental problems, leading to the largest environmental demonstration in the country only a few weeks ago.
Mr Cacopardo, a former investigative officer with the Mepa Audit Office, stressed that any new authorities will not make a difference if politicians do not understand that a regulator’s function is to guide and not to be told what to do.
“We need more resources for environmental protection and less political interference. The government’s duty is to give political direction not dictate how this is implemented,” he added.
He is concerned the demerger will result in even more fragmentation of environmental management, split as it is among ministries.
Dr Baldacchino, who formed part of the Environment Protection Directorate for seven years, said there has been a steady process of deterioration in environmental protection and management since Mepa took over the role.
“Resources dedicated to environmental protection were always a fraction of what was given to planning. But since the Labour Party was elected, the environment directorate disappeared,” Dr Baldacchino said.
He explained the environment directorate had been left without its own director for a number of years. Now, that role is filled by the chairman of the planning authority.
“A sad state of affairs. The environment directorate has been ignored and ridiculed. It is just there for the sake of convenience because EU laws say you need to have one.”