The Nationalist Party has promised to set up an agency focused on implementing climate change proposals and strategies if it is returned to government.
“How can we have a government that can be held credible, when different environment entities and ministries do not agree with one another when it comes to the protection of our environment and battling climate change?,” environment spokesperson Robert Cutajar said on Wednesday.
Cutajar announced the new agency during a press conference, where he said that the Nationalist Party prioritises the environment, and throughout the year had issued a number of proposals to safeguard it.
“Today we are saying that under a Nationalist government we will create an entity that will solely focus on the implementation of any climate change strategies,” he said.
Cutajar explained that the agency will enable environment stakeholders and NGOs to work together to monitor climate change and implement national and international measures.
He said that the agency will focus on a national plan for anything related to climate change and ensure that Malta reaches international climate change targets.
“It cannot be that we have a cabinet where a minister says one thing, and another says the complete opposite, and make decisions that are against climate change measures,” he said. He said further details on the agency will be provided in the days to come.
“In the past nine years under a Labour government our environment has taken a turn for the worse, and the public is realising the damage this has done to our quality of life, especially youths who are concerned about the environment and overdevelopment,” he went on.
On his part, PN MP David Thake said that the government must take environmental policies more seriously.
“The reality is that we have a huge number of people, especially youths who want to leave the country and they point their fingers to the state, overdevelopment and lack of environment,” he said.
He said that now is the time for climate change to be addressed and be taken seriously and called that the government does not blame the opposition whenever they are confronted with criticism.