POINTS FROM A SPEECH BY THE HON. DR. FRANCIS ZAMMIT DIMECH, MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT, DELIVERED DURING THE CLOSING SESSION OF THE BIOLOGY SYMPOSIUM 2001 - UNIVERSITY OF MALTA

The Minister for the Environment, Dr Francis Zammit Dimech noted with interest that most of the presentations for this Symposium are directly related to a wide range of local environmental issues and topics. This explains not only the environmental awareness in our country but the close working relationship which has been established between the Ministry for the Environment and the Department of Biology of the University of Malta, in the organization of this annual Symposium.

The Minister for the Environment noted that the environmental issues that are being covered include:

• Marine pollution problems related to the heat pollution from the Delimara Power Station, oil as well as other forms of pollution;
• the conservation of sand dunes, sandy beaches and other endangered habitats;
• faunistic and floristic studies of specific habitats.

Dr Francis Zammit Dimech said that most of the results and data generated through this research are directly relevant to the various programmes of activities of the Ministry for the Environment. He said he was sure that good use will be made of such data. The Minister for the Environment spoke of the cooperation between the Environment Protection Department and the Faculty of Science. He said that the Environment Protection Department has established a good working relationship with the Faculty of Science and in particular with the Department of Biology. The organisation of this SYMPOSIUM is one example in the manner in which the two entities have been collaborating closely over the past years.

Dr. Francis Zammit Dimech said that however such collaboration is more extensive and a number of joint programmes of work and of research are presently on-going. The Minister for the Environment mentioned some of these programmes. He said that:

• The Environment Protection Department (EPD), which falls within the Ministry for the Environment has recently been going through a phase of recruitment of new scientific personnel. Many graduates of the Department of Biology have been employed by the EPD and are in fact currently giving invaluable services to the Ministry for the Environment.

• It is the policy of the Ministry for the Environment to improve the scientific training of all specialized personnel in the EPD. In this respect it is with pleasure to note that one of our environmental officers, Darren Stevens, who had continued with his postgraduate studies within the Department of Biology, has now successfully finished his Masters, and presented the results of his research to this same Symposium.

The Minister for the Environment also spoke about the duty and right of the public to know. He 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 we 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 that are of over riding importance. Very often, the most pressing environmental problems to be solved, are those that we are not aware of. It is for this reason that coupled to 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 would be following closely the findings presented during this Symposium.

Dr Francis Zammit Dimech said that most, if not all environmental problems, will need to be tackled through the co-operation of the general public. It is the duty and responsibility of this public to keep itself well informed about its environment. He said that more than that, the public has a right to know about the state of our environment.

Dr Francis Zammit Dimech said that his Ministry fully recognizes this basic and democratic principle. That is why last year the Ministry published for the first time a State of the Environment Report, to which incidentally, three Professors in this Symposium have helped produce. He added that the Ministry for the Environment has this year again commissioned the same people to produce the next State of the Environment Report in 2002.

The Minister for the Environment said that he considers this Symposium as one tool to reach the public and to ensure that it is kept well informed about our environment.