ENGO’s reiterate call for ERA board meetings to be public

A group of eNGOs have reiterated their call for board meetings of the Environment and Resources Authority to be made public

They noted that their request has already been relayed twice to Environmental Minister Aaron Farrugia, however no reply has been forthcoming.

The eNGOs made this point in a statement declaring that Friends of the Earth (Malta) Director Martin Galea De Giovanni will be the ENGOs’ representative on the board of the Environmental Resources Authority. He was nominated for the post by a number of activist groups. He will be replacing Prof Alan Deidun who resigned his post earlier this year. The groups thanked Deidun and praised his service on the ERA board right up to his resignation.

“In the interests of transparency and integrity, the public should be able to follow and make representations during ERA board meetings, where important decisions affecting the environment and everyone’s quality of life are taken. The current system makes it impossible for residents to be represented. We also believe that the votes of every board member should be minuted and made public, in line with the principle of responsibility.”

The groups are also asking for changes to PA and ERA regulations so as to be able to nominate a substitute for Mr Galea De Giovanni as well as the NGO representative on the Planning Board.

“There have already been two key Planning Authority hearings where the NGOs’ representative was forced to recuse herself for having previously declared her vote - by simply carrying out her duty and voting in an earlier hearing on the same case. This led to an unjust situation where the NGOs were robbed of their vote and voice on the PA board, and by extension, robbed thousands of residents and objectors of their representation.”

“We believe that both of our demands are in line with the concept of transparency pledged by

Minister Farrugia upon becoming Minister for the Environment, and he should be acting to rectify two situations which put us and citizens at a further disadvantage. We look forward to seeing Minister Farrugia implement these changes to guarantee our representation.”

Since joining FoEM in 2000, Mr. Galea De Giovanni has been responsible for issues relating to various environmental topics with a main focus on agriculture, biodiversity, waste and climate justice. He also represents FoEM at international meetings and serves as an Executive Board Member at Friends of the Earth Europe in Brussels. De Giovanni holds an M.Sc in Environmental Management and Planning from the University of Malta.

The statement was signed by Moviment Graffitti, BirdLife Malta, Rota, Malta Youth in Agriculture (MaYa), Nature Trust, Friends of the Earth and Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar.