That the European Union has the environment high on its agenda is evident. A quick look at the budgets of the Union will reveal that the environment attracts considerable funding through the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund, the Cohesion Fund, the European Agriculture and Rural Development Fund and a variety of other minor programmes.

For Malta, over the past few years, this translated into the implementation of numerous infrastructural projects and initiatives – from the creation of civic amenity sites and installation of bring-in sites to the rehabilitation of what was the Maghtab landfill. These projects are tangibly making a difference to the environment in which we live.

The European Union’s financial instruments for supporting the betterment of the environment were recently augmented by a new programme – LIFE+ – which was created to develop and implement

environmental policy and legislation, specifically that which ensues from the sixth Environment Action Programme.

As far as European environment objectives are concerned,

projects funded under LIFE+ must demonstrate added value and should target best practice, innovation or raising of awareness. Environmental monitoring over a period of time is also an eligibility criterion under LIFE+.

Malta has already benefited from the precursors to the LIFE+

programme. Under LIFE – Third Countries, Malta managed to secure financial support for some eight projects over the years. The projects included pilot air quality monitoring, integrated coastal zone management, maritime environmental risk management systems and, more recently, a soil information system for the Maltese Islands.

On accession to the EU, Malta

was awarded its first projects under LIFE – Environment. These included the Dwejra Life Project, through which Nature Trust obtained funding to organise and manage this important site for the benefit of the environment and the local community and a better tourist product. A second project – the Yelkouan Shearwater Project – run by Birdlife intends to reverse the decline of the Yelkouan shearwater species population at Rdum tal-Madonna.

LIFE+ is a new programme that picks up from where the LIFE programme left off when it came to an end in December last year. Work on the drafting of a new regulation

initiated in the last quarter of

2004, and negotiations between the Council, the Commission and all the member states, went on for more than two years.

It is worth mentioning that, with a lot of perseverance, the Maltese government secured a landmark political achievement during these negotiations. Malta’s indicative budget allocation was augmented by around EUR 1 million to some EUR 2 million annually on the basis of Malta’s high population density.

The acceptance of our argument that our high population density exacerbates our environmental challenges has set an important precedent whereby this fact can be used as a potential bargaining tool in securing financial assistance for our projects – possibly even in other settings.

LIFE+ will focus on nature and biodiversity, environment policy and governance, as well as information and communication.

As opposed to the old LIFE

programme, where projects were selected on a competitive basis, LIFE+ will – perhaps more fairly – fund projects that fit in with the national priorities of each member state, which should in turn be based on the Commission’s Multi-annual strategic programme. The latter defines the principal objectives,

priority areas of action, type of measures and expected results that the Commission will be focusing upon in the medium term.

As in the previous LIFE

programmes, the Commission publishes the call for proposals, while the competent authority in each member state – the Environment Ministry in our case – vets those proposals. Naturally, this will be done in line with the established programme criteria, hence giving priority to those submissions that make the greatest contribution towards the achievement of our country’s objectives.

Under LIFE+, the eligible entities include public and private bodies and non-governmental institutions and organisations. Indirectly, this also makes LIFE+ an excellent platform from which to launch future public-private partnerships in this field.

The process to prepare the

proposals ahead of the first annual call for projects to be funded under LIFE+ got underway with an

information seminar held in

St Julian’s earlier this week.

The excellent turnout for Monday’s seminar, combined with the Maltese quality of innovative creativity, leaves me quite confident that we will rise to the unprecedented opportunity presented by this new environmental funding instrument to come up with new ideas to make a difference to the environment of our country.

George Pullicino is Rural Affairs and Environment Minister