Despite fine-sounding declarations, Malta is not moving along the path of sustainability. Nor is there a credible strategy from the government or opposition benches to get us there.

When it comes to sustainability, it is difficult for scientists and environmentalists, on one hand, and politicians, on the other, to see eye to eye.

Policymakers see sustainability as the process in which the mix of exploitation of resources, direction of investments, orientation of technological development and institutional change is periodically adjusted to sustain the economic growth and runaway consumerism that got them elected.

The minister responsible for sustainable development, Miriam Dalli, has gone on record stating that “economic growth will remain a priority”. Success continues to be measured in quantitative rather than qualitative terms.

This view of sustainability promises something it cannot ever deliver and operates only as a mental construct that has no basis in reality. 

Now studies, research and observations on the ground over many decades have led experts in varied fields and many millions of people globally to understand that sustainability is achieved through the balance of species and the resources within their environment.

There are also moral and ethical considerations to do with the fact that we are one of many species on this planet and that other species must be allowed to live and survive as they have done for millions of years.  The biosphere – the collection of all the planetary ecosystems – is a closed system with finite resources.

The pursuit of unlimited economic growth based on the over-exploitation of resources within a closed system is now the single most serious threat to life on Earth. The reason for this is that what we call ‘resources’ are actually the myriad elements of the biosphere that provide our life-support system.

The emerging economic models speak of ecological limits that we should not overshoot. They speak of a safe zone between human societal needs and planetary boundaries.

In Malta we have overshot every possible ecological limit. Greenhouse gas emissions;  air, noise and light pollution; plastic waste; degenerative agricultural practices; polluted and overfished territorial waters;  biodiversity losses; invasive human infrastructure across all green areas; depleted and polluted aquifers; a suffocating population density; annihilation of wildlife whenever it dares to cross our path; mega-projects that have no place in a Mediterranean island environment; the embrace of technologies with huge carbon footprints… those are just to name a few.

If we were serious about sustainability, we would shift from quantity to quality tourism; we would phase out all single-use plastic by 2025; we would bring nature back into urban areas. And that does not mean the reinforced concrete with stone cladding built to look like rubble walls or the ‘green’ walls of plants in plastic pots fitted into a plastic wall.

If we were truly committed to sustainability, we would prioritise healthy immune systems and not allow 600 people to die prematurely from air pollution every year. We would not be building an infrastructure to accommodate an even larger population. We would not be contemplating an ecological disaster such as the Malta-Gozo tunnel. We would not be destroying carbon sinks.

“I believe in a fairer, stronger and sustainable future for all,” the minister professes. This quote is emblazoned on her website. For green aspirations to be fulfilled, they now need to become part of every economic strategy, policy and decision coming out of government.

The lack of political will to act responsibly is what stands in the way of a truly sustainable future.