State of Environment Report 2018 published
The State of the Environment Report (SoER), which provides “an overview of the quality of the environment we are living in,” was launched yesterday by the Ministry for the Environment, Sustainable Development and Climate Change.
The SoER goes over a variety of areas which are directly or indirectly connected to the environment, with 10 chapters going over areas of the environment such as biodiversity, marine and fresh water, resources and waste, land and coast, ambient air, environmental health, climate change, and the possible policy responses to all the related issues that may come from any of the aforementioned areas.
Addressing the launch of the SoER, Minister Jose Herrera said that the report “acts as a snapshot, reporting the status of the environment and covers seven years of data from 20092015.” He went on to explain that the report will be used as a basis upon which future policies and strategies concerning the environment should be developed.
While acknowledging the current environmental implications of Malta’s economic gains, he noted that the country has more to contend with, particularly the fact that its population density is significantly higher than the EU average, standing at 1,450.2/km2 and 118/km2 respectively.
He went on to explain that the Environment and Resources Authority (ERA) has been focusing on implementing a number of Natura 2000 management plans, including work being done on plans for marine environment sites.
Bringing up the budget, he reiterated that the ERA is already working on Malta’s first National Environment Strategy which will serve as a framework to “outline the nation’s priorities in this sector and will be steering us all towards overcoming our environmental challenges.”
Report Summary
Arguably the most topical issues in the report are: waste generation – a recent overhaul in the garbage disposal system is still to bear fruit as people get used to the newly implemented regulations; land and coast, an issue that has been coming up for years, especially with regard to development on ODZ land and the increasing number of high-rises; and air quality, which is very closely linked to the high level of private car usage on the island.
Beginning with waste, the report notes that waste generation per capita in Malta remains high when compared to EU countries, also saying that resource productivity has also dropped compared to previous years, “indicting that we have become more ‘wasteful’ of resources.”
“More efforts on waste management are required over the next few years. These include solutions for residual waste management, while a landfill supporting other waste infrastructure is being pursued.”
Moving onto the land and coast, and based on data from 2005-2011, there are indications of a proportional increase in both the actual dwelling stock and vacant dwellings, although the need for a more detailed assessment is acknowledged.
The report notes that “the largest proportion of non-dwelling total approved floor space in Malta pertains to environmental leisure (30%), followed by offices (13%), warehouses (13%), and leisure developments (10%).”
Among contributors to the total floor-space approved on predominantly urban coasts are cultural spaces (18.1%), warehoused (17.7%) and leisure projects (13.5%). The most affected area is the Grand Harbour region, which absorbs 40 per cent of the total approved floor space.
Air quality saw some improvement, with a slight shift in Malta’s car fleet towards fuel-efficient vehicles observed during the period under review. Private car use and low consumption of alternative fuels makes this area one of the key forces for environmental concern, however.
Climate change in Malta is seen through a warming trend of +0.38°C per decade for the annual mean minimum temperature, with the Mediterranean Sea surface increasing at +0.35°C.