University rector slams Malta's environment performance.


Alfred Vella, University of Malta’s rector, urged students to be much more aware of sustainability and to be taken very seriously in Malta. Prof. Vella insisted in his opening ceremony that when it came to sustainability, we are far from perfect. In fact, he urged students to be more interested and learn more as regards to sustainability in order to help save the island’s future generation.

First step in order to do so is to minimize waste production as much as possible. A good start would be the use of the 5 R’s - reduce, reuse, recycle, recover, residual management.

When it comes to waste, Malta, he said, we have the poorest record of the EU member states in the recycling of waste, with only eight per cent recycled or composted. Malta has the lowest renewable electricity generation of all the EU. Only six per cent of the island's energy needs derived from renewable sources in 2016. When it comes to water, the Maltese Islands, he said, regularly faces what is technically known as “water scarcity”. The country is amongst the most water-scarce countries in the world. Only 23 million m3 of groundwater are available for extraction and use, but consumption is estimated to be about 65 million m3. Unfortunately, Malta is the EU country that is most suffocated with buildings and other artificial land use. The average fraction of man-made land cover for the EU is five per cent, while in Malta it stood at 24 per cent back in 2015.

"I am unsure which of these grave environmental challenges is the most serious for us today; or if these are each less serious than the general apathy that seems to grip our collective mind to prevent us from taking seriously our commitment towards environmental sustainability”, he said.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Paceville plan produces more pollution, noise and waste.

Image
The article I came across today talks about Paceville's new master plan. Marthese Portelli, who is a shadow minister of the opposition party does not agree with this new master plan. This render project would generate even more noise and waste pollution. The Planning Authority released a new video showing a new version for Paceville. This would provide more open spaces, making views a priority. Traffic and human congestion are also taken into consideration.   In fact, no confirmed discussion was done between The Planning Authority, responsible for land-use planning and environment regulation and the Environment ministry when the plan was being talked about. When it comes to the government, she made sure to question him if studies were carried out regarding empty properties and how they could be used for elderly people instead of building additional storeys even in urban conservation areas and outside development zones. Wasteserv was also charged by Dr. Portelli due to mismanag...
Read more

I choose environment

Unfortunately, a year ago during the election, the hunting and trapping issue was being discussed even when it didn’t matter at the time. This shows that the environmental issues in our country need to be taken seriously and tacked. Also, one must add that in the manifestos of both parties, there’s only two out of 10 recommendations prepared for Birdlife Malta as regards to hunting and trapping. When it comes to urbanization, we are ranked as first in Europe. This brings so many negative impacts not only when it comes to pollution or environment degradation but also to loss in habitats. One recommendation is that ODZ land should remain the same, if not increase. Our government should lobby with the other EU Mediterranean countries to designate the Mediterranean as an Emission Control Area for cruise liners One of Birdlife’s proposals is on education. It is suggested that all schools in Malta should have green spaces so that children can learn academic subjects in natural s...
Read more

Mellieha's Panorama Hotel could rise to eight storeys

My name is Nicole, and I'm a University of Malta student. My hobby is to travel and to explore different cultures around the world. My first blogpost talks about the overdevelopment in the Mellieha area as I have always loved the greenery and the environment and I strongly believe that when it comes to environmental degradation we should all voice our opinion and be conscious to our surroundings.  If approved by the Planning Authority, The Panorama Hotel, found in Mellieha could rise by three more floors. The hotel is located near the breathtaking views of Għadira Bay and lies within a residential area close to the parish church. It was found that the development application was back in August. However, attempts to extend the Panorama Hotel go back at least to 2008 when an application had been filed but the decision was not approved. One of the applicants was Christabelle Borg, a 2018 Eurovision Song Content participant representing Malta. She was criticized by t he ...
Read more