A Failure to Respond: The Environment Strategy Misses the Point – Alex Torpiano

Balance is the facile mantra of contemporary politics. Following the Comino debacle this past year, the Prime Minister hailed the ‘balance’ reached between the public and private commercial operators, who could not be told to stop. When the issue of the extended hours for live music in Valletta was heating up, a Minister talked about the ‘balance’ between such musical extended hours, and the ‘circumstances of city living’.

Another Minister has talked of the sustainability that comes from the balance between the growth of tourism and the need to preserve the rich heritage of the islands. Yet another Minister has referred to the ‘balance’ between the need to develop and the need to create more green spaces, where families can go.

And the new Planning Authority Chairman was not the first to talk of the balance between development and economic growth, and the environment, or (by another Minister) the need to balance environment and planning (sic) ( - this last phrase betrays the perceived meaning of ‘planning’ as ‘development’!)

‘Balance’ sounds great. The problem is that it does not work without an over-riding vision. King Solomon was the epitome of this type of balance, when he decided that a child claimed by two mothers ought to be divided into two.

Balance without a value-system, which prioritises the issues feeding into these complex issues, is not a basis for equitable governance. If the vision of Comino were, first and foremost, that of a pristine Natura 2000 site, as was first declared in 2007, then other decisions, such as the number of visitors allowed to visit the place, and the permits for ‘commercial operators’ to line the bathing beaches with wall-to-wall deckchairs and umbrellas, would need to be subservient to this overall vision, as the top priority.

Equally, if Valletta had been promoted as an elegant Baroque city, filled with expensive boutique hotels, housed in restored palazzos, for the discerning visitor—that is, if that were the top value— then decisions about late night, outdoors, noisy live music would need to be subservient to this vision. There could also be more important values, which would then have a higher priority, for example the liveability of the place for its citizens—perhaps to encourage people to return to live in the city.

‘Balance’ without prioritisation, on the basis of values, or of an over-arching, consistent, vision, is just not enough.

And such prioritisation, such vision, is not something that the free market can regulate. It is mistaken to assume that the free market is ‘rational’ enough, as has been stated by the exPrime Minister, to take decisions that always make economic sense, let alone sociallybenefical ones.

This prioritisation of values is what political discourse should be about; and lipservice consultation should be changed into real community involvement in the decisionmaking process.

It is the lack of a brave enough vision, in the draft National Strategy for the Environment for 2050, recently published by the Environment and Resources Authority, that most irked nine eNGOs, including Din l-Art Ħelwa, who got together to present their collective comments. This was the reason why the main message was that Malta needed greater ambition in our vision for the environment, for 2050.

The function of the National Strategy for the Environment was that it would be the ‘overarching framework for Malta’s existing environmental strategies and plans’; by law, it is meant to give ‘strategic policy direction for our environment by setting out longterm Strategic Goals and Objectives’, that also outlined how these objectives and goals were going to be achieved.

It was therefore important that the difficult, controversial, issues that hovered around the national agenda should be addressed within any proposed strategy. In other words, the document ought to have attempted to outline a vision on issues such as, inter alia, land reclamation, and over-abstraction of ground water; and such as demography and the carrying-capacity of the islands.

The document surely should have addressed the issue of Climate Change in a more forceful and significant manner. Climate Change is surely the most important environmental issue that is guaranteed to affect our islands over the coming decades.

Water is extracted to then be put into plastic bottles, and sold by private commercial entities, to the general public, as water or as soft drinks—a literal treasure mine, if there ever was one, worth, it seems, 833 million litres in 2019.

Climate Change currently occupies a big component of public discourse, around the world. The 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, better known as COP27, has just been concluded in Egypt. There is always a risk that such international meetings merely generate a lot of hot air, however, it was also an opportunity for the scientists to warn that countries are not doing enough to tackle the climate crisis.

It has been stated that global governments are currently way off the mark of achieving the goal of limiting global temperature rise to less than 1.5⁰C. 2015–2019 were recorded as the five warmest years on record. It has been calculated that, with the current levels of carbon dioxide emissions, temperatures could rise by 4.4⁰C by the end of the century, which, it is predicted, would be catastrophic for many countries, if not for all.

People may be hearing this message a bit too often, to the extent that they may actually be turning off the sound. It might also be that people are dispairing of the situation, because of a sense of helplessness.

Perhaps, they might be misled in thinking that, as far as Malta is concerned, we are OK, because we have, bravely, decided to phase out fossil fuel vehicles and replace them by electric vehicles over the next decade. The truth is that even if Malta achieves complete carbon neutrality—that is, it ‘consumes’ carbon dioxide as much as it produces— the changes in the global climate will still impact us.

Carbon dioxide is absorbed by trees and green areas, so the more trees we cut down, and the more green areas we build over, the less carbon dioxide can be absorbed from the atmosphere.

Sea levels are predicted to rise—by as much as 30 cm to 60 cm, although perhaps by a bit less in the Mediterranean basin. But changing rainfall patterns are predicted to bring Malta from the semi-arid to an arid climate—meaning desertification and loss of biodiversity, but also flooding, and other features of extreme climate such as tornadoes and hurricanes.

Drought and desertification is expected to be even worse in the southern hemisphere, not far from our shores, and this will lead to a greater volume of people who seek to move to other climates.

The draft National Strategy for the Environment seems to gloss over all of this; it seems to put its faith completely in the electrification of our vehicular fleet, and refers vaguely to climate resilience, whatever that may mean.

There does not seem to be any strategy which seeks to protect water resources—Malta still extracts water from its sea-level aquifers at a level much higher than replenishment levels. Water is extracted for free, and hence there is barely any control of how much is being extracted.

Water is extracted to then be put into plastic bottles, and sold by private commercial entities, to the general public, as water or as soft drinks—a literal treasure mine, if there ever was one, worth, it seems, 833 million litres in 2019.

Water is extracted for free, by the concrete industry, to the tune, it has been reported, of 95 million litres (in 2019), and 405 million litres (between 2014 and 2021). The published statistics refer to the 3,119 metered boreholes only—it has been estimated that there are probably three times this amount of unmetered boreholes.

The same concrete is used to seal roads and other soil areas which further reduces the potential replenishment of the aquifers from which this water is extracted. The concrete is used to support an economic decision to increase the population of Malta by 100,000 over a decade—an increasing population that places increased demands on water supply. A reduction on the water available from natural sources increases the pressure on water from reverse osmosis production, which demands electricity. A reverse circular economy if there ever was one.

And yet, there is barely a mention, in the draft National Strategy for the Environment, of any of this, and of how the country will cope when the already dire water resource situation becomes worse with Climate Change.

The draft National Strategy for the Environment seems to gloss over all of this; it seems to put its faith completely in the electrification of our vehicular fleet, and refers vaguely to climate resilience, whatever that may mean.

Then there is agriculture, an important source of food supply for an islands— one would argue that it is a strategic source of food supply for the islands. The situation is already serious enough as it is, with a decreasing number of farmers, an astronomical rise in the cost of agricultural land, and of course, the ubiquitous building development creeping across the so-called ODZ boundaries, into our valleys—now, it is fashionable for prosperous non-farmers to buy agricultural land as an amenity.

Sheep farms and horse stables are the latest craze for enterprising land owners/ developers to encroach into these areas—with the authorities completely oblivious to the negative impact not just on the visual qualities of our countryside, but on the more strategic importance of green areas.

With climate change, and the impact on water resources, and on bio-diversity, how will our agriculture survive unless there is a clear strategy in place—one that goes beyond the electrification of our vehicular fleet. Should it be transitioning to less waterdemanding crops?

The draft National Strategy for the Environment fails to respond to the urgency of the climatic changes that we will have to adapt to. And if our leading Environmental agency is not signalling this emergency, how can we expect the people, and its leaders, to even acknowledge any need to change our economic model?

The draft document does, on the other hand, acknowledge the need for change in our consumption patterns; it also highlights how it is now necessary to go beyond the metric of GDP to assess real growth in our socioeconomic well-being.

It is acknowledged that the economic value of the environment is much more difficult to evaluate than other economic activities; however, it is known that some countries, including EU countries, are already moving in that direction, and that the EU will shortly be demanding that national budgets record the environmental impact of budget proposals. It would have been appropriate for the National Strategy for the Environment to address this important theme.

For the last half century plus, Din l-Art Ħelwa has militated in favour of the preservation and restoration of abandoned built heritage; it has militated against inappropriate development and the demolition or destruction of existing urban areas; it has worked to preserve and manage areas of environmental interest. It has regularly filed objections with the Planning Authority, against proposals for development which is inappropriate. It has also taken action in the Courts of Malta (and won some notable battles).

All of those concerns for Malta’s ‘beauty’ and ‘sweetness’, for which Din l-Art Ħelwa has worked, are, in one way or the other, impacted by Climate Change. It has therefore felt the need to set up a small group, working under the name of ‘Din l-Art Ħelwa Code Red’, to raise awareness of the problems with the general public, and to highlight the need for politicians to take effective action.

Climate change will probably impact the younger generations much more than the older generations, because it will impact their future. Din l-Art Ħelwa Code Red will seek to catalyse different groups and organisations of young people, for them to articulate the steps that are really necessary to protect our islands, and their future. Any assistance from our supporters is therefore welcome. n

Alex Torpiano is an architect, and Dean of the Faculty for the Built Environment at the University of Malta. He is Executive President of Din l-Art Ħelwa.