Government launches process for environmental policy

The government has launched an 18-month process that will lead to the publication of a national environmental policy.

"The country has various sectoral policies and EU directives which have to be respected, but we need a policy that goes a step further and helps set the environmental agenda," Parliamentary Secretary Mario de Marco said at the launch.

He explained that Malta currently had policies on, among others, air quality, water and GMOs, but the government's vision was to have a holistic and better coordinated policy that would be easier to communicate to people and which would drive sustainable development.

The policy, he said, would help the country identity opportunities by creating synergy with other areas such as tourism, waste management and the health sector.

Dr de Marco said the policy process would include data collection on the state of the environment, wide ranging consultation, as well as a review of some 200 EU directives and 2,000 obligations imposed by the EU.

It was hoped that even before the 18-month process was concluded, a number of environmental initiatives could be announced, the Parliamentary Secretary said.

He also announced that the government was beefing up the Mepa law enforcement role and 45 new people would be engaged in the Environment Protection Directorate over a period of time.