The Environment and Resources Authority (ERA ) will be publishing its first State of the Environment Report (SOER) for Malta at the end of this month, just a short two-and-a-half years since the authority was set up.
The report will consist of a concise printed summary report that will be backed by more detailed chapters, datasheets and indicators published on a dedicated webpage on the ERA website. It will cover nine different environmental themes, namely a section on the forces driving environmental change, sections on ambient air, climate change and fresh and marine waters, coupled with others on our land and coast, natural capital, resources and waste, and a section each on environment and health and the policy responses applied during the period of review.
It was 20 years ago when I had first approached the Minister for the Environment at that time (George Vella) with the idea of compiling and publishing the first SOER for Malta. The idea was to set up a coherent and regular programme of reporting on the state of the environment.
We have come a long way since then. The Environment Protection Act of 2016 now legally requires that the ERA publishes this report every four years. In view of the fact that the report prior to this one was not published, the ERA took it upon itself to include the data of these missing years in its upcoming report, making it the first SOER for Malta to cover seven years’ worth of data, showcasing trends from 2009-2015.
Only an informed public may be expected to participate wholeheartedly in any national effort and initiative to safeguard our environment
It is very important that one understands the scope of this report, which is to review available information, to identify any trends unfolding in the sectors being analysed and to elicit the state of the environment for each sector. In this way, the report is a very important tool to increase awareness and understanding of key environmental trends, their causes and their associated consequences. Such a report thereby provides a sound evidence base for improved policy and decision-making at all levels, while it will facilitate the effective measurement of environmental performance and progress towards sustainability.
Because of documents such as the SOER, decision makers in the field of environmental management may also be guided in their identification of priorities for action. But this document is not solely for policy makers. In fact, there is a value for everyone in this report, be it a citizen, a member of an NGO or a decision maker.
Only an informed public is able to appreciate the difference between sensationalism and critical evaluation with the intention of improving the state of our environment. Only an informed public may be expected to participate wholeheartedly in any national effort and initiative to safeguard our environment.
At face value, many will say that reports of this type, whether issued by the ERA, the European Commission or the United Nations, consist of outdated data, because they purposefully determine cut-off dates for data at least two years prior to the year of publication. But this is not so. All such reports on the state of the environment place great emphasis on the trends exhibited by the data, making it more important to have consistent series of data than placing the focus on the value of the most recent data.
In other words, when it comes to understanding the complex links between environmental quality and human actions, the most recent snap-shot views will be of little use. What is essential is the identification of long-term trends. This is what the SOER represents.
After all, the ultimate goal of this report is to provide credible environmental information to support progress towards sustainable development – a feat that the ERA has managed to accomplish, as has already been acknowledged by the Office of the Ombudsman in its first ever review of the SOER.
Professor Victor Axiak is chairman of the Environment and Resources Authority.
This is a Times of Malta print opinion piece