Malta is needed, because we punch above our weight

This week, the United Nations released a report warning us that over a million species – one in four – are likely to become extinct over the next few decades.

“Following the adoption of this historic report, no one will be able to claim that they did not know,” said the Head of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation.

However, I believe that genuine awareness of the threats we are truly facing is likely to remain very low. I doubt that the vast majority of people understand what is happening to our planet be

cause, if they did, they would stand up and take action. At the very least, they would stop supporting politicians who destroy the environment.

The good news this week, is that eight European states, led by France, have proposed that 25 per cent of the European Union budget be spent on tackling climate change. Ireland has declared a climate emergency, following the British Parliament’s initiative. Awareness is lacking regarding the fact that we are in bigger trouble than most people imagine, but it is starting to spread, thanks to the efforts of activists such as Extinction Rebellion. The loss of biodiversity, as well as climate change, are two separate but connected crises which threaten life as we know it and the survival of human civilisation.

The main threats that people are failing to recognise centre around the fact that once a certain amount of damage has been done, there is no turning back the clock. There is no going back because we might, eventually, develop better renewable technology. If we are too slow to adapt our economies, there is no bringing back extinct species. There is also the threat of positive feedback loops. If enough permafrost melts in Siberia, it will release methane into the atmosphere, warming us yet further and causing more permafrost to melt. This releases even more methane and therefore results in an unstoppable loop of warming. Millions will die as a result, and the world will change beyond recognition.

Particularly because of the lies peddled by climate change deniers and fossil fuel lobbyists, many people think that nothing can be done to stop what is happening or that it is all a Leftist conspiracy to steal taxes. Bogus YouTube documentaries, which pretend to know more than actual scientific papers and experts, distort facts in a visually appealing manner, and make people feel smug and intelligent. Playing to their egos and confirmation bias, they then dismiss climate change as a hoax. Believing a YouTube video, especially when it is ideologically driven, as opposed to the opinions of thousands of experts who have dedicated their lives to the subject, is a symptom of a deeper problem facing our democracies.

The fact that humans have already been too slow to react to climate change to avert a certain level of global disaster is understandable, however, when one thinks of the pace of change. In a century, technology has advanced so tremendously fast that we have achieved things which would have been beyond the wildest fantasies of people a few generations before us and we have been unable to keep up with the pace of change.

Having said that, we must now adapt to the unintended consequences of our success. We have to prevent the growing issue of climate change from getting worse, or we might undo all of our achievements and risk ending up worse off than we were before the Industrial Revolution.

What is the answer? I will speak for the local and European context. Malta has always been able to punch above its weight. We are proud of Arvid Pardo’s Convention on the Law of the Sea and many other things besides, including bringing Bush and Gorbachev together to end the Cold War.

Therefore, Malta should be leading the charge to prevent climate change in the European Union. This week, Foreign Minister Abela stated that small island states are at the most risk of climate change and our MEP candidates should be placing this at the top of their agenda. Malta is too small to make an impact when it comes to carbon emissions, but it is not too small to set an example and play a key role in a new green economy. It should join the coalition of eight European states pushing for 25 per cent of the European budget to go towards fighting climate change, and then play a leading role in the implementation.