THE HON. FRANCIS ZAMMIT DIMECH, MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT, ADDRESSES THE OPENING SESSION OF THE 'BIOLOGY SYMPOSIUM 2000', ORGANISED BY THE FACULTY OF SCIENCE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MALTA IN COLLABORATION WITH THE ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION DEPARTMENT

The duty and right of the public to know.

The Minister for the Environment, Dr. Francis Zammit Dimech, spoke of the cooperation between the Environment Protection Department and the Faculty of Science.

He said the Environment Protection Department has now established a good working relationship with the Faculty of Science and in particular with the Department of Biology. The organization of this Symposium is one example in the manner in which the two entities have been collaborating closely over the past years. However, such collaboration is more extensive than this, and a number of joint programmes of works and of research are presently on going.

Dr. Francis Zammit Dimech said the Environment Protection Department, which falls within his Ministry, is currently passing through a phase of administrative changes and new scientific personnel have been appointed to its various sections. It is worthwhile noting that many of these new personnel are graduates from the Faculty of Science and have themselves participated in Biology Symposia over the last 3-4 years. This shows the important role that the University may play in the training of environmental managers and administrators.

The Minister for the Environment noted with interest that most of the presentations for this Symposium are directly related to a wide range of local environmental issues and topics.

He said that these include:

· The problem of urban sprawling;
· The conservation of sea grass meadows and of important species, such as the Maltese Hedgehog;
· The impact that coastal fish farming may have on our marine life;
· Fisheries.

Dr. Zammit Dimech said that evidently, the current levels of interest and of concern regarding environmental issues are extremely high. This is as it should be. He said that everybody must be rightly concerned about how to protect our quality of life and that of our environment. However, very often many of the problems we perceive are those that receive most of the attention of the media, and these are not necessarily the issues which are of over-riding importance. Very often, the most pressing environmental problems to be resolved are those that we are not aware of! It is for this reason that, coupled with the attention of the media, and the public reactions to environmental problems, there must be the ‘unbiased' and ‘unemotional' assessment of scientists, of the current environmental problems which need to be tackled. It is in this respect that the Minister for the Environment said that he was awaiting with particular attention the findings of this Symposium.

Dr. Francis Zammit Dimech said that most, if not all, environmental problems will need to be tackled through the cooperation of the general public. It is the duty and the responsibility of this public to keep itself well informed about its environment. More than that, the public has a right to know about the state of our environment. The Ministry for the Environment fully recognizes this basic and democratic principle. This is why last year the Ministry published for the first time a 'State of the Environment Report', to which incidentally, three Professors in this hall have contributed to.

The Minister for the Environment considered the 'Biology Symposium 2000' as one tool to reach the public and to ensure that it is kept well informed about the environment.