Maltese Ambassador addresses Commission on Sustainable Development

Malta's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, on 10 April addressed the Commission on Sustainable Development on the topic of the Review of the implementation of Agenda 21. Ambassador George Saliba stated that the "recognition of the need to enhance the balance between the pressures of development and the protection of the environment demands constant vigilance and attention".

The priorities agreed to in Rio had been restated by the Malta Government taking office in October last year with the responsibility for the environment having been allocated to the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the recognition that often the two are dependant and mutually reinforcing facets of the security and stability of any State.

The natural environment had been given equal priority with the stated need for updating of biodiversity databanks necessary to prepare and implement a policy for management of natural resources, the need for the recycling of local building materials and data collection and research is to be undertaken in order to prepare a Minerals Subject Plan. Other measures included the enhancement of coastal zone management of the Maltese Islands, the development of a Waste Management Subject Plan, the implementation of the Sewage Master Plan, Pollution Monitoring of the Atmosphere as well as marine and land pollution.

In underlining that education was crucial for sustainable development, Ambassador Saliba stated that the Special Session should focus on education as a priority for future action in the follow-up to the commitments of UNCED. He outlined the different measures and initiatives to be taken by the Malta Government in the field of environmental information which included enhanced public access to environmental information and public participation in Environmental planning and management.

In recalling the number of Conventions emanating from Rio it was stated that the universality of such Conventions will remain a major priority of the United Nations. "Further focus would need to be provided in those areas where implementation has been less significant such as freshwater, pollution control, protection of the atmosphere and transfer of environmentally safe technology and the risks related to the transport of fuel and chemicals by sea".

Regional approaches such as those envisaged in the Mediterranean Action Plan remained as important focus and source of information. Within this framework, and following Malta's proposal, a Mediterranean Commission on Sustainable Development had been established, thus implementing Agenda 21 to the regional and local level. Such an initiative had led to the ongoing preparation by the Foundation for International Studies of the University of Malta of a strategic impact assessment of free trade on the environment in the Euro-Mediterranean context.

The Barbados Programme of Action addressed the issues confronting Small Island Developing States. Ambassador Saliba stated that whereas the follow-up to Barbados would be fully addressed during 1999 it would be useful at this stage to focus on specific areas of interest to Small Island Developing States and in this context recalled that Malta was playing a central role in the formulation of a vulnerability index.