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16 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 12 JULY 2020 NEWS JAMES DEBONO THE Environment and Resourc- es Authority has been tasked with spearheading the process leading to the ratification of the Council of Europe's European Landscape Convention, MaltaToday has learned. Malta was one of the original signatories of the convention in 2000 but 20 years on, Malta has yet to ratify the convention. Malta is the last among the orig- inal 39 signatories to not have ratified the convention as of yet. Iceland, the only other remaining country not to have ratified it for the longest time, finally did so last year. MaltaToday is informed that the ratification of the convention requires changes to legislation, policies and organisational struc- tures particularly in the plan- ning, environmental and cultural heritage sectors. For this aim, a compatibility review of national legislation and the convention is being carried out. The European Landscape Con- vention obliges signatories to protect their landscapes – a body of law that could put limits on the way Maltese villages are be- ing changed. The Convention is considered revolutionary as it recognises that local, everyday and even de- graded landscapes are as likely to be of importance to the com- munities – or cultures – who inhabit them or the people who visit them as those which are commonly labelled as globally important. Parties to the Convention un- dertake to provide legal recogni- tion for the value of landscapes, to ensure that participatory pro- cedures are put in place to estab- lish and implement protective policies, and that landscape is in- tegrated into land-use planning policies. Moreover, committees of ex- perts appointed by the Council of Europe are "responsible for mon- itoring the implementation of the Convention". The European Landscape Con- vention obliges signatories not just to protect protected heritage buildings but to respect the wider cultural landscapes and the col- lective memories of people who inhabit them. In its reaction to various pro- posed developments, the Super- intendence for Cultural Heritage often calls on the PA to ensure that its decisions are "guided by the principles enshrined in the European Landscape Conven- tion". In 2004 the Planning Author- ity had taken steps to fulfil the requirements of the Convention by conducting a landscape as- sessment study which had iden- tified that over 51% of the Mal- tese Islands had high or very high landscape sensitivity. This led to the designation of more areas in Malta as "Areas of Landscape Value". But experts still noted short- comings when it came to broad- ening landscape management and protection with regards to seascapes and "everyday and de- graded" landscapes. The Catalan region is regarded as a model for legislation trig- gered by the convention. Four years after signing the con- vention, the Catalan parliament approved a law for the protec- tion, management and planning of the landscape. A Landscape Observatory has been set up as an advisory body of the Govern- ment of Catalonia in landscape matters. The Observatory has is- sued landscape catalogues which identify different landscapes in- cluding neighbourhoods with particular characteristics. This was done following public con- sultation with the people living in these landscapes. The protection of these landscapes is integrated in the region's town and planning regulations. After 20 years Malta set to ratify Landscape Convention The European Landscape Convention obliges signatories not just to protect protected heritage buildings but to respect the wider cultural landscapes and the collective memories of people who inhabit them. The Ministry for Energy and Water Management has issued an Expression of Interest to lease premises of circa 250 - 350 square meters, to house the staff working within the Directorates falling under the Office of the Permanent Secretary for a minimum of 3 years. The EOI may be downloaded from the "Tenders and Quotations" Section in the Ministry's website www.energy.gov.mt. Request for clarifications on the subject may be submitted in writing at tenders.mew@gov.mt by 29th July 2020. The EOI itself must reach the Ministry for Energy and Water Management in a sealed envelope at 52, Old Theatre Street, Valletta by not later than 5th August 2020 at 9.30am Ministry for Energy and Water Management INVITATION TO SUBMIT PROPOSALS FOR THE LEASE OF PREMISES