For a number of reasons, the Environment and Resources Authority (ERA) is becoming a target of criticism. The ERA is the main environment regulator, responsible to ensure that our environment is of a standard that provides us with a certain quality of life.
The authority is not haphazard in its approach. In fact, it is legally obliged to take stock of the general state of our environment through the publication of a report every four years.
This is important to underline; the authority does not base its actions on impulse or notion but on data and information. Nothing is perfect, but one should look beyond the haze of perception and acknowledge the strides the authority has taken and its future plans for a better quality of life.
It is our duty to know where we stand and where we want to go, and we are doing just that by assessing the state of our resources, identifying trends and singling out priorities that will shape our progress towards sustainability.
We are aware that there has been a remarkable change in Malta over the past decades. We have made great economic gains, and the social, cultural and environmental implications are undeniable. No one can fail to recognise that the efficient and sensible use of our resources, including space, has become Malta’s number one challenge. Neither can we deny that environmental inequalities are one of the main challenges. Research may shed further light on the link between exposure to environmental impacts and health, and provide a solid foundation on which to develop further action.
We are not doing this in a vacuum. Malta has recently pledged to take forward the obligations arising from the Ostrava Declaration on Environment and Health and is developing a national portfolio of with other key stakeholders to take forward in the coming years.
We have much to contend with. The population density in Malta is 1,450.2/km2, significantly above the EU average of 118/km2. However, this has not stopped Malta from protecting its natural resources. We have already completed our terrestrial Natura 2000 network.
This sufficiency rating is not an achievement on paper only. We can boast 28 Natura 2000 sites, on land and at sea. Just this year, ERA focused on implementing a number of Natura 2000 management plans. While management plans for our sites in the marine environment are in the pipeline, every terrestrial site in this list already has its own plan of management to ensure that it remains healthy – for the sake of the environment and for the sake of our own well-being.
This has led to several actions in line with these management plans, such as in Comino where new trees have replaced illegally dumped construction waste and alien species were cleared and removed. Action was also taken to improve the environment at Daħlet ix-Xmajjel and ir-Ramla tat-Torri. By year-end, Għajn Żnuber in Majjistral Park shall be cleared from construction debris which has been lying there for years.
ERA is moving from notions to actions and is at the same time implementing the pledges made by the government on the environment.
Management plans are developed together with all those who have an interest in these sites, be they for environmental, social or economic reasons. This is not an easy process but it is the method that landed the environment the CIEEM Best Practice Award for Stakeholder Engagement 2016 when we applied it to develop the terrestrial management plans.
The ERA is implementing the pledges made on the environment
So, we will not settle for less where our responsibilities on external relations are concerned. In fact, the authority proactively strives to maintain its link with its stakeholders. We conducted a citizen survey to gauge the attitudes of the public towards the environment and to understand what the public considers as priorities.
We shall also shortly survey the business sector to provide a snapshot of business perceptions and behaviour regarding the natural environment in Malta and thereby to assess the key drivers and barriers behind pro-environmental business choices.
All this insight will help us refine our environmental policy and our permitting regime and address any gaps that the ERA may need to bridge.
Our legislation has recently been strengthened to increase protection of our environment. The environment should be perceived as going well beyond trees. Yet we appreciate the fact that trees are essential in providing a range of ecosystem services, as well as ensuring that our built environment provides a good quality of life to all.
The trees and woodlands protection regulations now also protect trees in urban public open spaces such as village squares. These changes were made to increase the value that these trees provide to urban biodiversity and to the public who live in these localities.
It may not always be evident, but permitted intervention on trees skews in favour of increasing the number on our islands. Figures keep showing the endeavours of ERA in this regard. Year in year out, many more protected trees are transplanted or planted afresh in compensation than uprooted. In the first half of 2018, about 266 trees were uprooted, 309 were uprooted and transplanted in other locations and a staggering 2,302 new trees were requested as compensatory planting.
It is evident that ERA’s stringent requirements set a significantly high compensatory rate for uprooted trees. Moreover, afforestation projects have been given priority to enhance our natural areas. Recent examples are Marsaxlokk and Comino, with more than 3,000 trees planted in the latter site.
A major part of regulation lies with enforcement. The most recent law protecting trees and woodlands has substantially raised court penalties, which range from low to high based on the rarity or protection status of the tree.
The penalties also distinguish between interventions which result in the destruction or death of the tree and lesser interventions. The regulations also allow ERA to impose administrative fines for infringements against these regulations.
Progress has also been achieved for our waters and our air quality. We already score excellent quality for most of our bathing waters, while Malta’s programme of measures for the marine environment has given us an improved understanding of macro and micro-litter, notably from plastics.
The authority has secured an investment of €1.6 million to improve our water monitoring measures, showing our sustained efforts for this sector.
Furthermore, we have not registered any exceedances of EU air quality thresholds since 2011, as most of the emissions of several air pollutants have decreased significantly in Malta, such as sulphur oxides (SOx) which fell by 60.16 per cent between 2014 and 2016.
Road traffic remains the main challenge in this area and it is already being tackled through a number of measures related to public, collective and environmentally friendly transport.
Our environment will also continue to benefit from the conditions attached to the ERA’s environmental permits, regulating industrial sectors such as waste management sites, sewage treatment plants and shipyards among others.
Safeguarding our environment is the main remit of the ERA. But we are aware that we cannot achieve this ambitious target alone, so we consistently work to integrate environmental aspects in several other national policies.
We must all share these challenges and successes. May we all recognise the over-riding importance of sensible environmental management of our resources, to see us through our immediate and long-term future.
The authority is already working on the development of its first National Environment Strategy. This ambitious framework will primarily guide it and outline its priorities for the coming years, but it will also steer other players in this field.
This strategy will be implemented because while ERA may be the main environment regulator, the current state and future of our environment are the responsibility of us all. The environmental challenges are there to be overcome.
In trying to do this, the ERA needs the support of one and all. Being cynical and firing off gratuitous subjective criticism will not help. Substantive and objective criticism will be more than welcome.
Michelle Piccinino, an architect and civil engineer, is director for the environment and resources at the ERA.
This is a Times of Malta print opinion piece