Miriam Dalli’s anointment as our next environment minister (to be added to her existing portfolio, which includes energy, sustainable development and the circular economy) is heartening, given her familiarity with environmental issues and her championing of the EU’s Green Deal and the green transition this is pledging to usher through.
The fact that her new responsibilities were divested of the pitfall-riven planning portfolio is also a breath of fresh air given that, traditionally, the environment always played second fiddle to planning, guaranteeing that environmental considerations are not domineered by development ones.
On the other hand, the dichotomy between energy and the environment is a glaring one, given the many environmental implications of the energy sources we will be opting for.
Being freed of the albatross around her neck that the planning portfolio would have proven to be does not mean that Dalli still doesn’t still have a tall order, especially considering that the environment features prominently as a grievance within the considerable disenfranchised slice of voters who chose not to participate within the last elections.
Any further incursions in ODZ areas will continue, and rightly so, to be harshly rebuked by the electorate, who, through the string of local environmental NGOs, continue to advocate for the release of the revised 2014 ODZ policies (technically known as the Rural Policy and Design Guidelines). These have opened the floodgates of abuse within the countryside in the form of agricultural stores, new residential facilities to existing farmhouses, stables and the works.
Dalli’s new environment ministry should lobby with Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi’s planning ministry to have these ODZ policies repealed given that the continued application of such permissive policies will simply castigate (with the electorate) the environment ministry and not the planning one.
Yet another environmental priority for Dalli’s environment ministry should be the strengthening of the extensive terrestrial and marine Natura 2000 network, which represents the last refuges of wilderness and biodiversity on the islands and which are in dire need of an injection of a lifeline in the form of funding so as to support the implementation of enforcement and management measures.
Given the wealth of knowledge and expertise held by local environmental NGOs, these should be entrusted with the management of a higher number of Natura 2000 sites besides being empowered through necessary funding and human resources to live up to expectations.
Malta’s slew of Marine Protected Areas, which cover a whopping 4,100 square kilometres, for instance, exist largely on paper given that management plans for the same areas are still being drawn. While the pledged investment in green infrastructure and in green open spaces is laudable, these are largely manicured and sterilised spaces which balk in the face of the wilderness enclosed within Natura 2000 sites.
Miriam Dalli should champion the ERA’s calls for a veto on development applications within ODZ areas- Alan Deidun
The marine domain will come under increasing pressure from anchoring and seaborne pollution, including that of an acoustic nature, as a result of burgeoning vessel numbers. Keystone marine habitats, notably Posidonia seagrass meadows, should be buttressed against indiscriminate anchoring pressure through the designation of no-anchoring zones and the provision of ecological mooring facilities.
The possibility of introducing rotating no-take (no-fishing) zones within a number of MPAs should be seriously considered, given the positive knock-on effect on fish populations this has been proven to have and which is also widely acknowledged by fishers’ groups.
Under José Herrera’s and Aaron Farrugia’s watch, the Environment and Resources Authority (ERA) has risen in stature and profile, with extensive human resources and infrastructure being injected into this instrumental environmental watchdog. But while the ERA has come of age in terms of capacities, it is still eclipsed by the Planning Authority when it comes to decision-making on development applications within ODZ areas given that its recommendations are frequently overruled.
Dalli should champion the ERA’s calls for a veto on such decisions. This one single achievement would definitely propel her as the talisman of the local environmental movement given the sheer significance of the same move.
The new environment minister will have to contend with pledges made by Prime Minister Robert Abela during the past electoral campaign to reign in development on the sister island, as Joseph Portelli and associates plough ahead with plans to clutter the island with as many apartment blocks as possible.
The stifling of any further encroachment on Comino, especially for upmarket residential purposes, should similarly be a priority for her ministry. While commendable, further afforestation efforts should be supported by an adequate watering campaign to maximise sapling survival rates, as these are still agonisingly too low.
In terms of air quality and greenhouse emissions concerns, given Malta’s shift to natural gas and the prospects of a second interconnector link to Sicily and the esoteric possibility of shifting to green hydrogen once the pipeline to Sicily comes on stream, energy-production pales when compared to traffic, with the latter being the real Gordian knot that Dalli’s ministry will have to face.
Incentivising further the electrification of our vehicle fleet, while commendable, alone will not slash enough our traffic-originating greenhouse emissions. Further incentives to ditch the car and in favour of public transport are needed, most probably radical and unpopular ones.
Malta’s nod to land reclamation in recent years should not usher in an unadulterated expansion into our waters but rather such initiatives should be well-managed and regulated so as to mitigate the unavoidable environmental impacts that will be constitute.
The further deposition of inert construction waste into the sea should also be better regulated than has been the case to date, while the drive to rid the islands of single-use plastic items should be intensified. A renewed rainwater harvesting and groundwater replenishment effort is needed, without translating into the development of more concrete infrastructure within our valleys and watercourses.
Dalli faces a mammoth task indeed, that of convincing many cynics that a green transition on the islands is possible. Equally corpulent, however, is the opportunity for positive change that this inevitably brings about.