Snakes and ladders on the road from Rio

What do we tell Johannesburg? The United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development wants to hear what we have been doing all these years to make Agenda 21 a reality."

"A gender what?" you may ask.

Well it does touch on "gender impact assessments in policy, planning and operations of government work" and strengthening the roles of major groups including children. Agenda 21 is part of the new development model aimed at preparing the world for the challenges of the 21st century.

The future is now and local consultants have been engaged to give an overview on where we stand and what still needs to be done.

Out this August, printed on chlorine-free paper, the Malta National Report is to be submitted by the Maltese Government to the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg which starts tomorrow. The report reviews the country's progress in implementing sustainable development since the last Earth Summit was held a decade ago. It gives an aerial view of where we are coming from and tells us how we might keep an unsustainable future at arm's length.

There has been criticism from the environment lobby that the report gives a false impression of how much was done in Malta as part of Agenda 21. While many positive steps have been taken none of it can be said to be part of a co-ordinated local action plan for implementing Agenda 21.

Being small does not mean we miss out on climate change. Over the past century Malta's average temperature has risen while average rainfall is on the decrease.

Another change to note is in the rural aspect. While Malta is still self-sufficient in fresh vegetables, eggs, poultry, rabbit, pork and fresh milk, the agricultural sector has been declining over the years.

Excessive consumption, with people spending a larger portion of their income on non-essentials, has contributed to economic growth but in the long-term has led to a slump.

A rapid increase in imports upset the external balance of payments, and savings and resources which would have gone toward investment have been crowded out.

Calls for a restraint in consumption are "politically difficult to implement due to the habit-forming nature of consumption". A more restrictive fiscal policy is not having any significant effect as households are becoming increasingly consumer-oriented.

Malta has made a global contribution through Professor Lino Briguglio's* formulation of the vulnerability index for economies of small island developing nations. Perhaps we need to develop a similar index to make allowances for the particular fragility of the environment on small islands.

Densely populated and with a limited ability to assimilate the high impact of economic development on the environment, small islands generally have ecosystems with a low level of resistance to invading species (imported or accidental).

Acceptable standards for drinking water

Half of our fresh water supply comes from the four reverse osmosis plants, at a high cost both economically and environmentally. Leakage control has been reduced by over half since 1995 and further reductions are targeted by the Water Services Corporation in 2003 and 2006.

Meeting internationally acceptable standards is a priority. Groundwater sources in Gozo will be collected in one reservoir and treated for the removal of chloride, iron, sodium, sulphate, fluoride and nitrate.

The report counsels better use of second class water. The Sant Antnin Waste Treatment Plant produces second class water for irrigation and some industrial purposes.

Emissions up, bus travel down

Malta has one of the highest rates in the world at 1.5 cars per household in 2001. As private car ownership is going up, the rising demand for more and more electricity is also being met.

Nearly a third of imported fuel is converted into exhaust by transport and twice the amount goes up in smoke at the two power stations.

An inventory compiled in accordance with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has shown an increase rather than the hoped for decrease in greenhouse gas emissions.

It is a clear mark of unsustainable development that the use of public transport has fallen by nearly a quarter since 1989. The report notes that benzene (which is a cancer-causing carcinogen) is present in street air at levels several times the European guideline.

Making full use of our solar water heating potential could save around 12 per cent of our heavy fuel oil consumption, with savings of an additional four per cent from offshore wind-driven generators. (BirdLife Malta tells me they might have a problem with these.)

The report calls for a focused strategy to raise awareness over consuming too much energy and advises fiscal measures to help investment in energy efficiency. Building development permission should be made subject to energy saving through improved design.

Another recommendation made in the report is for the use of catalytic converters on newly imported vehicles to be made mandatory. We are still waiting for the National Energy Policy being prepared by the Malta Council for Science and Technology since 1997.

Those MCA candidates

Since the last Earth Summit, the Maltese Islands have seen extensive legislation put in place for the protection of the marine and coastal environment. However, the report goes on to state: "Institutionally an important weakness relates to limited monitoring of coastal water quality."

While 14 marine conservation areas were proposed in the 1990 Structure Plan, a 1994 report by the Regional Activity Centre recommended specially protected area status for 27 marine and 17 coastal sites.

So far four areas have been declared internationally as specially protected areas. Public pressure from NGOs and the diving community is mounting over the inertia surrounding designation.

A national team has been set up to determine which marine areas could qualify for inclusion in the Emerald Network - Natura 2000 of the Council of Europe.

The report notes that the majority of coastal uses have been developed without considering the implications on the natural processes and cultural resources. It also acknowledges that illegal dumping at sea takes place despite Malta Maritime Authority and Environment Protection Directorate efforts to regulate it.

The Euro-Mediterranean Centre for Insular Coastal Dynamics has developed aerial surveillance capabilities which would be useful for detecting illegal activities, such as discharges from ships.

While there have been many projects to collect and assess marine data, there are big gaps. Information about the impacts of industrial discharge and landfills along the coast is sparse. While planning policy guidelines on fish farming have been adopted a national policy on aquaculture has still not been finalised.

A coastal strategy is to be adopted in the revised structure plan with an evaluation of development trends. A National Oil Pollution Contingency Plan has been developed but has yet to come into full operation.

Despite major upgrades to the sewerage network and outfalls over the past ten years, the report states point blank that the greater part of our sewage pours untreated into the sea "resulting in microbial and chemical pollution and... health threats to bathers and divers".

Government is due to correct this situation well before the next Earth Summit with a commitment to treat all sewage within the next five years.

Overlaps and gaps must be addressed as a way of integrating marine and coastal management. While there is legal support government agencies need to build up their management and enforcement personnel.

More resources need to be made available to allow for more extensive monitoring programmes to fill in the data gaps with regard to fish stocks and impacts on the marine environment.

Unsustainable rate of hunting

Elements of Malta's biodiversity are of regional importance within the Mediterranean, yet local habitats are on the verge of disappearing and a large number of species are threatened with extinction.

Some fishing, hunting and collecting methods (many of them illegal) are still in use. They are non-specific and indiscriminately capture all species, including the rare ones. Wild flowers and song birds are declining because the numbers removed are too high for natural mechanisms to sustain the yield.

Bird hunting is responsible for the extinction of some local species and for preventing other potentially breeding species from nesting on the islands, according to the report.

MEPA has scheduled some 140 habitat sites over the past ten years but management is limited with the exception of the Gaia project run by a local NGO at Ghajn Tuffieha. By the end of the year a habitats map will be completed.

The three-year-old Species Action Plan is still in its initial phase of identifying species, requiring special conservation measures for long-term survival. An inventory programme is under way to identify nationally and internationally important areas for biodiversity.

Considerable work has been carried out with respect to tree protection, with specific trees and woodlands protected by the regulations issued last year. Uprooting must be compensated by new plantings.

Despite remedial action, there remains the need to protect all rare endemic species and designate conservation areas (particularly marine areas) to protect and manage habitats, even reconstruction of habitats where necessary. Obligations under existing environmental treaties concerning biodiversity (11 in all) are not always fulfilled.

There is a need to equip local agencies responsible for implementing these treaties with the necessary resources, personnel and administrative machinery to enforce legislation. Malta still lacks an official policy on the introduction of alien species, including genetically modified organisms.

No sustained effort to recycle

Waste management is one of the biggest environmental problems in Malta and is exacerbated by the increase in the standard of living, coupled with a general lack of awareness.

The heavy dependency on landfills which are not properly managed results in significant problems, including emissions of toxic gases, leachate generation, vermin, odours and groundwater and marine contamination.

It is largely due to the National Environmental Health Plan (which preceded the National Waste Management Strategy by five years with its national clinical waste management plan) that there are concrete plans to replace incineration plants in hospitals with a central micro-waving plant.

Recycling initiatives are carried out by some entities but there has been no sustained effort at separation at source as yet. While an exception to this has been the beverage industry, the EU's expected refusal of a derogation on packaging will allow soft drinks in plastic bottles on the market, a backward step on the sustainability highway.

The need to build an inventory on waste production, composition and disposal practices would be better served if waste producers were legally obliged to provide the necessary information.

Lubricating oils should be collected and treated but an estimated half of the volume is illegally disposed of. The report notes that the number of court cases regarding illegal tipping and the penalties imposed on the polluter are rarely high enough to deter further tipping.

On the good side there is more recovery of scrap metal and reuse of inert waste (excavation and construction waste). The compost produced last year is of a better quality than that produced between the years 1992 and 1997. Enforcement of existing legislation prohibiting unpermitted discharges into the sewer system and disposal on land or at sea of liquid waste needs to be greatly improved.

Carrying capacity

A rapid surge in tourism in the 1990s gave rise to more accommodation facilities and an excess supply of tourist beds taking its toll on scarce land resources, in particular coastlines.

There has not been much attempt at translating the results of a carrying capacity study carried out by the Ministry of Tourism into policy actions. Instead the ministry is concentrating on product development and management of tourism activity in established resorts.

Among the institutions with a firm hand in environment and development, the Malta Tourism Authority claims as its strategy a "controlled growth scenario". Translating the commitment we made ten years ago at the first Earth Summit remains, as the report acknowledges, "a major challenge and an opportunity for Malta".

Where can we reasonably expect to find ourselves ten years from today on the sustainability curve? The mechanisms are in place for the promotion of sustainable development but need oiling to function more smoothly.

The way forward

Sustainable use of land became the principal goal of the planning system following the revision of the Development Planning Act last year. The new structure plan is expected to make it easier for the public to access and participate in the planning process.

The National Commission for Sustainable Development has a responsibility to identify any processes or policies which may be undermining sustainable development and propose alternative processes or policies for the government to adopt. Where current or planned action gives rise to unsustainable development, the NCSD is to recommend action to reverse such trends.

Although lacking executive force, any decisions coming out of the NCSD are to be considered "authoritative recommendations". When the commission gets round to its declared task of stimulating minimal use of natural resources, complemented by maximum reuse via recycling, we hope someone will listen.

Implementing legislative and institutional changes will be "a major challenge" for government.

There is a pressing need for more efficient use of resources and the promotion of alternatives to current production methods and consumption patterns. Economic instruments that reward sound environmental actions and penalise harmful ones need to be put in place.

Standards and targets need to be set up for environmental quality and sustainability. More protection zones and codes of practice need to be established.

The Government of Malta is aware of the shortcomings. It is now up to the NCSD to prepare the National Strategy for Sustainable Development on how to carry out development that does not cost the earth.

Professor Lino Briguglio is lead author of the Malta National Report.