Malta’s fourth-place EU ranking in environmental protection expenditure is not reflected in improvements in the sector, according to two local eNGOs.
According to data published last week by Eurostat, in 2018 the Maltese authorities splashed out over 1.2% of its GDP on environmental protection, a total of €153.6m.
Friends of the Earth director Martin Galea De Giovanni said the only explanation behind such high expenditure were projects and expenses which are not per se related to environmental protection.
Most of taxpayers’ money within the environment protection sector was allocated to waste management (€66.2m) and water waste management (€54.3m) which are high mainly because of increased consumption patterns, said Mr Galea De Giovanni.
He pointed out that when a field or part of the countryside is excavated to build a block of apartments, the construction waste is then disposed of at a waste facility.
“In that case, the cost of waste management is actually shouldering the cost of ‘environmental destruction’ as it’s mainly coping with the influx of the construction industry which is currently wrecking the island,” he said.
The environment is considered low on the national agenda, explained Galea De Giovanni, and in most cases destroying natural areas is simply seen as a cost for developers and investors.
“The public is then left to foot the bill either through these ‘environmental protection’ costs or through the collective well-being of society.”
Dramatic increase in protected birds being illegally shot
Mark Sultana, Birdlife Malta’s CEO, said the protection of biodiversity and landscape totalling around €28.4m was not reflected in results on the ground.
“The fact that Malta has invested in environmental protection can be seen as a positive but for anyone who works in this field it is the results that count. The statistic that shows how much Malta has invested does not mean we are efficient as a country,” he said.
He pointed to data that showed that from 2015 onwards there was a dramatic increase in protected birds being illegally shot, which spiked in 2018, while the cases in court have dwindled drastically.
Costs relating to the Wild Birds Regulations Unit would also fall within this budget, Sultana added.
He criticised the unit, set up officially in 2013 to enforce legislation on hunting and trapping, as designed to aid the hunting and trapping lobbies.
“Enforcement is not even ever carried out through this unit even if they proclaim they do so.
“In fact, even the derogation on finch trapping was eventually removed by the European Court of Justice with one of the reasons being that Malta failed to adhere to the strict supervision needed.”
With regards the rest of the funds, the lowest portion was directed to research and development related to environmental protection.
Pollution abatement was allocated a paltry €1,700, even though exposure to pollution on the island was the highest within the EU in 2016.
Malta’s spending on environment protection in 2018 was four per cent higher than average expenditure across the member states which stood at 0.8% of GDP and totalled €106 billion.
The Netherlands recorded the highest spending in this sector at 1.4%, followed by Greece and Belgium at 1.3%.
The lowest expenditure was documented by Finland (0.2%), Lithuania (0.3%), and Cyprus (0.3%).