The idea of sustainable development has dominated thinking on environmental and development issues since it was highlighted by the 1987 Brundtland Report. The report defined sustainable development as being “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.

The importance of sustainable development is that it includes two, seemingly contrasting, concepts. The first is the concept of need, in particular the essential needs of the world’s poor, and the second is the concept of limitations based on the environment’s ability to meet present and future needs.

Since the Brundtland Report, sustainable development has been at the forefront of the international agenda culminating in the 2030 Agenda which highlighted the interlinkages between poverty, food, health, environment, crime, energy, climate change, employment, and equality.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development recognised that ending poverty and other deprivations are linked with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our natural heritage such as our seas, oceans and forests.

The scale and ambition of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development are reflected by the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets, all of which are integrated and indivisible, and balance the three dimensions of sustainable development: the economic, social and environmental.

The goals of the 2030 Agenda are now the short-to-medium development plan of the United Nations (UN) and of most of the international organisations. All programmes and activities of these international organisations are geared to address one or more of the SDGs.

By default, regional organisations had to align their development strategies, policies and targets with those of the UN, and this trickled down to national governments, involving a rethinking of national strategies to concur with the framework of the 2030 Agenda. 

In Malta, the government’s responsibility to mainstream sustainable development in its policies came with the Sustainable Development Act, which was adopted in 2012. The act provides for a system of sustainable development coordinators in every ministry, and also requested the setting up of a Sustainable Development Network; a Sustainable Development Focal Point in every government department, agency or entity; as well as the setting up of a Guardian of Future Generations.

Yet, the gap which has not been really addressed is a framework that would enable monitoring of progress, or regress, of implementation to reach the targets and goals of the 2030 Agenda.  In its Resolution 71/313, the United Nations General Assembly stressed that official statistics and data from national statistical systems constitute the basis needed for the SDG global indicator framework, and also highlighted the role of national statistical offices as coordinators of their respective national statistical systems.

The Sustainable Development Act does not address the coordination of requests related to the Sustainable Development Indicators. Nevertheless, the Malta Statistics Authority Act of 2000 empowers the NSO to coordinate the production of official statistics’ systems to meeting users’ requirements and to compile the results at appropriate levels and breakdowns and disseminate them to users.

An opportunity to start shaping a strong national statistical system- Alan Cordina

Indeed, as the competent authority in Malta responsible for the production and coordination of official statistics, the NSO recognised the need to address the gaps in the production of statistics for the SDIs, in particular since the statistical needs of users are increasingly being aligned to the specificities of the Sustainable Development Goals, as evident from the data needs of the European Green Deal.

For the past year, the NSO has been working to identify existing data sources and statistical products (national and international) that are compliant with the methodologies of the UN SDIs framework. Moreover, to reduce the data gaps, the NSO has also identified other data and statistical products which, although not in conformity with the methodology of the SDIs, are still relevant for the monitoring of implementation towards achieving the SDG targets.

The NSO has also identified other national statistics that can supplement the UN indicators and proxies with additional information relevant for a Maltese context. The results of these processes are reflected in the publication Sustainable Development in Malta: Statistical Information on the 2030 Agenda in Malta (2021) that was published on December 16. This publication collates all existing data related to Malta and presents it as a body of statistics related to the monitoring of the sustainable development targets.

The quality of the indicators depends on the underlying statistical process. Many non-official producers of statistics will not be as experienced in sound methodological procedures as the NSO and may even be entirely new to quality frameworks.  Thus, the strengthening of methodological procedures and the coordination between statistical producers are necessary preconditions to ensure high-quality statistical output.

The element of coordination is already covered by the Malta Statistics Authority Act, which mandates the NSO to “monitor and coordinate the carrying out of tasks with statistical implications imposed on other public bodies” and “coordinate the production of official statistics’ systems, including the necessary methodologies, with a view to ensuring timeliness and standardisation of information, efficiency and to meeting users’ requirements…”. 

The act also requires that “if any public authority intends to carry out activities with statistical implications, it shall consult, for coordination, with the Office and accept any recommendations the Office may make”. 

These processes are an opportunity to start shaping a strong national statistical system, which is a must if we have to cater for users’ demand for high-quality statistics that are relevant, timely and accurate.

Alan Cordina is Head of Unit, International Affairs and Sustainable Development, NSO.