From the various bits of news I read in the last two weeks, these three caught my attention.

First, a study published by JGR Oceans shows that the Adriatic Sea and the Aegean Sea have risen by eight centimetres over the last two decades. Since 1989, ocean warming and land ice melting have driven sea level rise by an average rate of 3.6mm a year in the Mediterranean basin.

Second, Times of Malta reported that Infrastructure Malta cordoned off a road in between quarries in Mqabba that is at risk of collapse as it investigates “unexplained deterioration” in its foundations.

Third, the head of the International Monetary Fund stated that for much of the global economy, 2023 is going to be a tough year as the main engines of global growth, the US, Europe and China, are all slowing down simultaneously.

One may ask what these three developments have to do with each other and what they have to do with my wish list for 2023. I need to state that I am calling it my wish list as most of the good intentions, resolutions and to-do lists made now are likely to be forgotten before the end of January.

What links these three developments together is their application to our country.

How will the rise in sea levels in the Mediterranean likely affect Malta, keeping in mind that the effects of global warming are likely to become worse in coming years? Will parts of Malta be devoured by the sea? Before someone says no, think of the effects of the rise in sea levels on places like Għadira in Mellieħa, Pretty Bay in Birżebbuġa and St Thomas Bay in Marsascala. If they disappear, and together with them other parts of the island, how will we cope with a smaller land area and a growing population due to the influx of non-Maltese workers?

We owe it to today’s young people and future generations to think and plan ahead

Thinking of the road in Mqabba that is at risk of collapse, one wonders how much we can continue to tolerate the negative externalities of the construction sector. It does not require any super intelligence to understand that the quarries on either side of the road have caused the deterioration of the road. The continual encroaching of our open spaces coupled with the various ills caused by the construction sector can no longer be overlooked.

The third development, the simultaneous slowdown of the US, Europe and China economies, is likely to have an impact on our economy given its very high level of openness. Our economy has performed well over the past 40 years or so. It has changed and reinvented itself to face the various challenges successfully.

However, while we enjoy the fruits of that success, we need to plant new trees that give us new fruit. Public funding has contributed significantly to cushion the negative effects of global crises over the years, but certain parts of the economy need to start weaning themselves off from government support. I am specifically referring to sectors that do not really need such support.

This brings me to my wish list which is really made up of one item – ‘better planning’. We know that in the coming years we will be hit badly by climate change, by overdevelopment, by economic challenges. There will be other developments that will impact us negatively. To fend off these challenges we need to start planning for them now. I believe no one can claim that we did not see them coming because the proverbial writing is on the wall.

I am no fan of dogmatic communist-style five-year economic plans but I strongly believe that we need to look at the short-, medium- and long-term effects on our economy of these issues and plan accordingly. The start of a new year encourages us to think ahead. We owe it to today’s young people and future generations to think and plan ahead.