I recently addressed an international youth seminar on Darfur which was addressed among others by the US Ambassador too. Allow me to share some of the thoughts expressed on that occasion :

‘One might argue that it takes some cheek to try and equate Malta with Darfur. I have no intention of sacrificing my credibility by attempting to do so.

One cannot by any stretch of the imagination compare an economy like ours, which is integrating itself into EU structures and mechanisms, with that of what is undisputedly a failed state, although in all fairness Darfur is not even a fully fledged state but just a region of Sudan.

But on the other hand, if you will pardon the pun, we cannot afford to bury our heads in the sand by failing to realise that when it comes to climate change, there are many lessons Malta can learn from Darfur.

When we realise that climate change has transformed the Darfur region from sustainable agricultural land into a partial desert behind the continuously escalating conflict, we should all realise that climate change is not a latent threat for our future but something that is happening on the ground just a continent away. It should trigger us into evolving into a society of doers.

It also sends the message that a climate change problem today can only get worse tomorrow.

Closer to home in the coming months, apart from struggling with the problem of political and economic refugees, we could also find ourselves facing a new emergent threat for our socio-economic fibre: the rising concern that climate change may lead to a new class of environmental or climate refugees..

If sustained economic development is the only road to survival for Darfur so should it be for any developed country in the EU, be it fully developed or not. Malta obviously cannot exclude itself from the equation.

When we proposed a private member’s bill on climate change which should hopefully be discussed in the House of Representatives shortly, and should optimally be voted for by the governing party too, we wanted to convey a simple message.

That the time of empty promises is over. People want commitments. And binding commitments at that.

The time for political lip service is over, while people are fed up with far too much complacency.

We want to instill the feeling among Maltese citizens that we should be constantly pro-active on climate change, not just to impress EU institutions or else to avoid the initiation of any infringement procedures on CO2 emissions but also for our own sake and that of future generations.

When it comes to solar issues we cannot aspire to promote solar energy unless we show a strong bipartisan commitment to ensure that ordinary citizens and home owners can enjoy the full benefit of their solar rights. An issue which we took up recently as an Opposition Party but which unfortunately fell on deaf ears.

When we think solar, we should not limit ourselves to merely thinking in terms of incentives for solar water heaters and PVs. We should also think big and explore the feasibility of applying so called concentrating solar power in a sun drenched island like Malta, the first commercial plants of which have been in operation in the USA since the mid-80s, but which are now high on the agenda of the European Strategic Energy Technology Plan that was prepared in 2007 by the European Commission itself.

Even if we start boosting solar and wind energy at an incremental level as active partners in various Euro Mediterranean initiatives, we must have a formal position as a country on the Trans-Mediterranean Inter-

connection for Concentrating Solar Power.

Something which has not only been studied by various sun drenched European and N African countries nearby but which has also been the subject of studies commissioned by the Ministries of the Environment even in relatively distant EU countries like the Federal Republic of Germany.

Our message should be loud and clear. The status quo is simply not on.

We are not prepared to pay the worst price of all – the price of doing nothing or else that of appearing to do something by hiding behind glossy reports from which private consultants earn thousands of euros only for the reports to be allowed to continue gathering dust on the shelves or in the PC folders of government ministries and departments.

Yes these are the lessons that we must learn as Maltese from the crisis in Darfur.

We must move fast from strategic plans and implementation strategies to the actual benchmarking of these strategies as well as to the penalisation of those who should be held politically responsible and accountable for failing to meet such goals and targets.

This once again is the main thrust behind our strong push for a private member’s bill on climate change. Commitment must be the key word all along.

If we fail to realise that in Darfur climate change is not tomorrow’s problem but today’s reality we will have missed learning the most important lesson of all – that we cannot continue to go on living in a state of denial in the environmental and climate change sector.

Just as much as we cannot go on treating climate change as a purely environmental issue without realising its foreign policy and security related aspects, dimensions and implications.

I am in no way absolving the mass murders and horrendous human rights abuses in Darfur but it would be very short sighted of us to refuse to admit that the Darfur conflict began as an ecological crisis, arising at least in part from climate change.

Any peace in Darfur must be built on solutions that go to the root causes of the conflict that has long prevailed there.

On the local front, our efforts to combat climate change will be worthless and a mere indulgence in political platitudes if we refuse to go to the root cause of the problem in Malta as well as the mitigation efforts that are needed on our part in any sector – from tourism to illegal immigration, from quality of life to climate change’s impact on our health and to the ever growing threat to our water resources and on and on and on.

In tandem with all this we need to intensify the education process on climate change, particularly among the younger generation but even beyond.

We must secure a stable climate whatever the cost, as failure to do so will cost far more.

This is one problem which can never be solved by hard military power in Darfur.

Neither can military solutions work in Malta in our desperate attempt to reduce our carbon emissions.

John Ashton, the UK Foreign Secretary’s special representative for climate change, had argued this time two years ago that if we fail to see this threat to security very soon for what it is and make our dispositions accordingly, we will end up paying far more and experiencing more insecurity.

Many scientists – environmental or otherwise – have long realised this.

It is time that we politicians realised this too. And showed so through our actions. Right across the whole political spectrum.

e-mail: [email protected]

Leo Brincat is the Main Opposition Spokesperson for the Environment, Sustainable Development and Climate Change