Following the publication of the State of the Environment Report in 2018, the Environment and Resources Authority (ERA) has been focusing on the development of the National Strategy for the Environment (NSE). This strategy will set the direction and the pace to achieve the state of the environment that we are aiming for, incrementally, within one generation.
As a first step therefore, ERA’s initial task was to develop a vision that the National Strategy for the Environment will strive to achieve over the next 30 years.
This first milestone has been achieved. And in so doing, we remained true to the commitment we took in 2018, when we associated the phrase ‘My Environment. My Turn’ to our analysis on the state of our environment. Why? Because the vision that ERA has concluded for the National Strategy for the Environment is of seeking a well-being first reality, which places you at the core and which plans to mobilise all sectors of society for their benefit and that of the environment.
In fact, the well-being vision will be guiding the NSE to seek a strategic alignment across government entities so as to place the environmental, social and economic well-being dimensions at par.
As chairperson of ERA, I already had the occasion of pointing out that the country has been going through a period of unprecedented economic growth, often at the expense of our environment. A recent survey commissioned by the authority clearly shows that there is a greater concern among the public about the way we are taking care of our natural environment.
More than half of the Maltese population believe that we are not being sufficiently diligent in our care of the environment. In simpler words, the public is concerned about the environmental price we have been paying for our current economic model. We urgently need to learn to live well within our ecological limits.
This is not a question of a fair balance between our economy and our natural environment. A balance implies a compromise, and compromises rarely work. It is the very basis of our economic systems that need to change.
The public is concerned about the environmental price we have been paying for our current economic model
Environmental policies need to provide the necessary limits within which our economic needs are satisfied. As has been said elsewhere, our production and consumption systems are based on consumerism fuelled by quantity-driven profits and growth measured by GDP. One will not reach the goal by walking faster if one is walking in the wrong direction.
Embarking on a journey to achieve a Well-being Vision within one generation, through the National Strategy for the Environment, will have its ‘birth pains’ due to a number of reasons, including the fact that such change needs long-term rethinking, and ‘long term’ is often beyond the horizons of our political and financial systems with their in-built short-term focus.
We also need new economic signals and guiding indicators which will start valuing our natural capital as much as production and labour capital. Such change in our mentality must assure a just and equitable allocation of resources to all our citizens, especially those at the margin of society, because in the first place, we may have put them there ourselves.
However, if well-being only remains ERA’s vision, then we will only be able to achieve a fraction of what we would be able to achieve had we to all play our part. Only with your help and ideas can we all achieve and enjoy the incremental shift towards a better quality of life over the next 30 years. I am inviting you to have a look at the proposed Well-being First vision and send us your thoughts and ideas for our shared environmental future.
The Well-being First NSE Vision is available on ERA’s website at era.org.mt. Feedback may be sent on nse@era.org.mt until September 20.
Victor Axiak, chairperson, Environment & Resources Authority