Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/326223
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 8 JUNE 2014 Opinion 22 H aving gone through the EPD section of MEPA's annual report that was discussed in Parliament last Monday, many found it very positive that for the first time, one had a better sense of the magnitude of the work the EPD does, particularly in the assessment of development applications and the processing and monitoring of environmental permits. SPED and ODZs were recently the talk of the town but it might be appropriate to put the record straight. The SPED process was based on the groundwork done in 2011 and 2012 as also mentioned in the MEPA Annual Report by the Chairman. That work had already led to a very streamlined approach for spatial planning that took on board Malta's environmental objectives and obligations. MEPA's EPD also had a representative on the SPED team who was entrusted with the preparation of the document – therefore environmental consideration continues to be inherently taken on board throughout the process. In addition, our Ministry was consulted at different stages on the draft objectives in view of the Ministerial overall responsibility on the environment. However one must acknowledge that this is not an environmental plan, but a strategy for development based on spatial planning where the environment is a key element that has to be taken into consideration. On ODZs I am pleased to remark that after our Ministry drew up a purely technical assessment of what was being proposed, MSDEC met with MEPA to provide input on the draft policy and we also engaged EPD in the process, to ensure that the policy is streamlined with environmental obligations spanning different dossiers and in particular environmental assessment procedures. Meetings were held by my senior officials with EPD and agriculture too. Indications seem to suggest that most of our comments have now been taken on board. However this process proved one important point – that there is a benefit and also that it is a must in having more co- ordination at the policy development stage to improve synergies in government processes that would lead to better regulation. Whether we influenced the decision or not, it is most welcome that contrary to where the consultation document started off, now ERA – the Environment and Resources Authority will now also be represented in the Development Planning Authority's executive council. We have no intention to try and re- invent the wheel but Malta is crying out for an environment protection authority that is well-equipped, well- manned and well-geared to meet the main challenges ahead. In order to succeed, we are preparing an evidence-based assessment, even at a structural level, of the current state of the environment and the pressures being placed upon it. We need to take on board the trends and changes in environmental quality as well as the socio-economic activities that are linked with these changes. Given that like all other sectors, the environmental sector Europe-wide is constantly evolving, one needs to keep constantly abreast of the significant new policy and legislative advances in areas such as air and waste amongst others, and also in the broader context of sustainable development. The environment is, was and will remain a strategic and valuable asset for our country and as such it must be protected and proactively managed to ensure it forms the basis of our economic well-being and a healthy society. We need to build on those aspects that are operating well and are in good condition. We need to address as soon as possible a number of areas of concern but even more importantly, we must be geared to face a number of key challenges that we shall be meeting in the coming years, even from a purely HR dimension. The overall challenge for Malta as in the case of other EU countries is that as our economy and key sectors develop and continue to recover further, they must do so in a sustainable manner – decoupling economic growth from environmental pressures. It was with this in mind that when taking part during the debate on the MEPA annual report last Monday, I distinguished between those that care about the environment and those that 'fear' the environment – 'Irridu nibzgħaw għall-ambjent u mhux nibzgħaw mill-ambjent!' We can only move beyond mere rhetoric by ensuring that the natural resources and environmental conditions that are fundamental to our economic and social well being, particularly those of future generations, are protected and not degraded or exhausted. If I had to identify the four key environmental challenges that we need to address as a country, even were the MEPA demerger not to be about to happen, these can be best summarized this way; valuing and protecting our natural environment, building a resource efficient, low carbon economy, implementing environmental legislation and putting the environment at the centre of our decision-making. The environment is not the sole domain of the Minister for the Environment, no matter who he or she might happen to be and whether he may also be responsible for sustainable development or not. There remains a shared responsibility for achieving and maintaining a healthy environment. Clear leadership and coordinated efforts from the government and public bodies are and will remain needed to ensure that existing and future activities maintain and improve the quality of the environment. Business and industry also play an important role in this area, by ensuring their activities do not cause pollution or create environmental liabilities for future generations. In the final analysis, all members of the public must play a part by taking action to avoid pollution and controlling our own environmental impacts. Leo Brincat is Minister for the Environment I n Algeria, in the Wilaya of Setif, at a place now called Djemilla, towards the North East coast, lie the beautifully preserved ruins of a Roman town, Curculum. They are renowned as some of the best preserved "Berbero-Roman" remains. In fact in 1982 they became a UNESCO World Heritage Site and deservedly so. At the height of the Roman Empire, North Africa was known as " Rome's bread basket", because all the grain used by the Emperor to feed his Romans free bread was grown there. Curculum was a thriving township about the same size as Valletta. Beautifully planned and built, pagan and Christian temples, squares, municipal toilets, tenements and villas, stores, granaries, stalls, market, straight, wide hard stone paved streets, theatre, basilica, forum. It is all still there, but with no roofs, and no people, preserved in a time warp. In Roman times it was surrounded by thousands of acres of rolling hills planted with grain, alternated with trees – a rich, fertile, abundant place of great wealth and peace. In 1971, when the writer was there, it was surrounded by a frightening moonscape of derelict and barren land, black and grey silicon, dried courses, gnarled, twisted bushes like begging cripples. Later photos show some improvement with patches of green. When the Romans left they took with them the skill of water management and the semi nomadic tribes who moved in lacked those skills and without water management, the area just inexorably perished into wilderness. Would we like to see Valletta as a roofless uninhabited ruin, occasionally visited by intrepid tourists? Could this be the future of the beautiful city "built by gentlemen for gentlemen"? Water is the source of human life. The Romans knew it; they built tanks, courses, baths and wells. The Arabs knew it; they built their houses with flat roofs to catch rain, the Knights knew it and they built watercourses, wells under houses and a network of aqueducts. The British knew it and they constructed the Chadwick Lakes system. Do the modern Maltese know it? If so why does each rainstorm go cascading and wasted into the sea? In 2006, Nature Trust Malta announced that Malta loses an incredible 84% of its rainwater. In the winter storms gallons of water wash off Valletta, certain roads all over Malta are dangerous torrents of water, laden with valuable topsoil. The water cascades downhill to the sea because there is no system to hold it and let it soak into the underground water table. The same applies to the watercourses created to alleviate the flooding of Qormi and Birkirkara. It's almost as if Malta wants to get rid of the nasty wet stuff. Buildings are being thrown up everywhere, the majority of them multi-household. This means that the same area of land, which once supported only one family, now supports many and to make matters worse, developers turn wells into parking/garages. We should not blame the developers; it is the policies, the policy administrators and watchdogs who are to blame. In the Knights' times, a house had a well for a common sense reason - to ensure a water supply. The common sense of water management seems to have just vanished in modern Malta, since 1998. Engineer Osbert Chadwick designed the Chadwick Lakes system, back in the late nineteenth century, to control and hold water long enough for it to permeate into the water table. Unfortunately the system fell into disrepair until, in 1997 and in co-operation with leading Italian specialists and local engineers, a scheme for their rehabilitation was launched by then Minister Noel Farrugia. This work progressed at speed and introduced an eco-friendly modernization of The environmental challenges ahead Leo Brincat Mike Turner Valletta 3018?