During the last five years the government embarked on the largest number of environmental projects ever. This does not mean that we will now rest on our laurels. We want to nurture the important steps we have made and achieve more.
During the last term in office we concentrated on the strategic sectors of economy, education and environment. These aspects will remain a priority for the government. We will work hard to strengthen what we have achieved so far but we will also put the concept of sustainability as our ultimate objective for the years to come. In short, sustainable development will form the basis of the proposals, decisions and actions of the government for the foreseeable future.
The government strongly believes in the concept of sustainability and we want to integrate environmental concepts into our social life, the economy and all the sectors. The concept of sustainable development basically entails that the actions we take today and the immediate future will not compromise the collective well-being of future generations.
We are fully aware that this will not be an unproblematic and painless process. Sustainable development involves a balance-seeking process that is not always easy to attain. We are also aware that in this sector we need to breed a change in mentality and lifestyle choices, and in the way we think, plan, work, earn our living and live. Sustainable development is a national project. It will come to fruition through the participation of all interested parties, particularly the general public, public and private enterprise and Local Councils.
On a national basis the government is adopting a National Strategy for Sustainable Development. This strategy will incorporate socio-economic and environmental development and will complement sectoral political strategies in other socio-economic and environmental areas.
On a more local level we want to infuse the concept of sustainable development in the economic, social and environmental strata of our localities. We believe in the potential of our localities and the National Strategy for Sustainable Development has to be complemented and supported by initiatives on a local level.
The conceptual relevance of local sustainability and its connotations with national strategies and plans will be discussed during a National Conference about Sustainable Local Development. Pilot strategies will also be applied in two localities in order to analyse the problems we may encounter while implementing these strategies on a broader level.
The government also intends to offer incentives to local councils to adopt and contribute towards national strategies, employ efficient energy use, manage waste and create educational programmes to promote the participation of the community and schools in environmental issues.
A very important step towards obtaining sustainable development was bringing together the local councils in Gozo to generally agree to sign the Aalborg Charter which in itself is a commitment towards sustainable development. The Charter was approved by the participants of the European Conference on Sustainable Cities and Towns in Aalborg, Denmark from where it takes its name. We are sure that other localities will follow and come forward for this challenge.
The Aalborg Charter deals with local action plans towards sustainability. It stresses the need to incorporate current and future generations in today’s decisions and also emphasizes the principles of subsidiarity and solidarity. Through the Charter, our localities will adopt the notion and principles of sustainability implemented through decisions taken at the nearest possible level to the citizen.
The Charter attaches importance to long-term planning and objectives that form part of local road-maps that eventually converge into a national plan which ensures the best results via coordinated efforts. This also leads to the principle of inter-generational bequest, implying that each generation should use its resources and capabilities to create a better future for generations to come.
The focus of this charter is the people that are part of a family, neighbourhoods that form localities, localities that constitute a region and regions that form a state. This concept highlights the importance of the local authorities and underlines the role of local governance. It also complements the concept of bottom-up approach wherein the local authorities take a central and important role in decision making. Localities will be encouraged to look outside their immediate confines to promote both local and regional well-being and a better quality of life. This will call for stronger synergy across our localities wherein each and every locality will strive to contribute towards local and regional set targets.
The Aalborg Charter is an opportunity that will help our localities develop in the right direction, learning not only from good regional practices but also from best practices applied in other European localities and regions signatories of the Charter.
Dr Chris Said is parliamentary secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister