Address by Leo Brincat - International Youth Seminar Malta (FZL) - Bella Vista Hotel on Friday April 24, 2009

Climate Change: The Maltese Angle

Even though every country has its international obligations as far as climate change is concerned, the real impact of climate change on a particular state can only be gauged within a strictly country specific context and regional dimension.
 

The Labour Party is proud to have put the climate change issue centre stage on the Parliamentary Agenda in Malta by triggering the first ever full scale plenary debate that was meant to lead to the formal approval in principle of having a draft bill drawn up by all political forces, stakeholders, key players and NGOs.
 

This would have definitely entailed inputs from various local youths who are at the forefront of many leading local NGOs who have in recent months been very vocal in their support of this topical and pivotal issue.
 

Not only was our proposal shelved, but Government preferred to make do with a draft consultation document drawn up by a team of specialists directly appointed by the Minister concerned that did not include any representation at all of a single Maltese NGO.
 

As the Friends of the Earth mentioned, a true consultation would or rather should have included a call for interested and knowledgeable parties to state their interest in participation and representation on the committee before commencing this exercise. They argued correctly that they firmly believe that it is an asset to decision making on a national climate change strategy and they believe as we do that NGOs should be represented on such decision making bodies.
 

With our proposal NGOs would not only have been appointed on a consultative committee but they would have also been directly engaged in the formulation and drafting of the relevant legislation.
 

Athough as a party we shall continue to push forward our national call for legislation on the subject with a view to achieve and ensure national consensus the same way that we have done in the financial services and ICT sectors, we are mature and responsible enough to commit ourselves a priori to give our formal technical reaction to Government’s report on climate change in the House of Representatives.
 

Particularly since we feel and have been arguing publicly already that this should be the forum where our official views should be conveyed on both climate strategies as well as on the recently published draft document on the solid waste management strategy.
 

Although Government set out to draw up a comprehensive set of proposals we find it particularly lacking that it focused on mitigation while ignoring adaptation to climate change completely when this is the angle that will impact most on our daily lives.
 

The argument that adaptation was not part of the consultative body’s brief is totally unacceptable and nothing but a lame excuse.
 

I also find it hard to believe how the report’s rapporteurs claimed that they experienced undue delay in compiling their report due to lack of adequate data available, when concurrently government has just presented the EU with our biennial report on policies and measures and projected greenhouse gas emissions. In addition to this Government has also recently published an updated version of Malta’s greenhouse gas inventory.
 

The problem is that there is too much fragmentation on the government side when it comes to climate issues and renewable energy matters.
 

The Minister for the Environment is not the Minister for Climate Change. On the other hand there are more employees working on climate issues at MEPA – the Malta Environment & Planning Authority (which falls under the Prime Minister’s brief) than there are at present under the Minister responsible for Climate Change.
 

On renewable energy the state owned Energy Corporation and the Malta Resources Authority which fall under the aegis of two different ministers seem to have a different perspective on renewables and alternative energy.
 

Malta needs an official climate change strategy urgently. In fact it not only needs it now but it is already lagging badly behind in doing so.
 

On the other hand a strategy can only work and deliver the desired results if it actually turns out to be a strategy that will help Malta effectively to address climate change in terms of its national obligations to reduce CO2 emissions, and in terms of how it will tackle the impact of a changing climate on Malta – that is, how climate change will affect Malta and how Malta will have to adapt accordingly.
 

If the report addresses these elements and defines a strategic way forward then yes it would stimulate a national discussion on the best action to be taken. But if however the report does not even provide an accurate picture of the context in which Malta has to tackle climate change i.e. in terms of how the climate is expected to change locally, how the local environment will change, and the socio-economic context in terms of which sectors will be addressed to reduce CO2 emissions, and which sectors will need to adapt and how much all this will cost socially and financially, then it could be considered as leading to misinformation.
 

Let us be positive and augur that all these issues will be addressed without further undue delay.

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