On 5 June each year, the United Nations observes World Environment Day. The NSO is releasing information on various environmental aspects to mark this event.
World Environment Day: 5 June 2015
This year’s theme for World Environment Day is “Seven billion dreams. One planet. Consume with care.” This theme highlights the effects of production and consumption patterns upon the Earth’s natural resources and aims to promote a sustainable way of living within planetary boundaries.
Water
Malta’s primary freshwater resource is based on groundwater abstraction. Over the past 11 years, total groundwater abstraction increased by 44.1 per cent, with the agricultural sector as the principal consumer. Effective recharge of aquifers has declined by 1.2 per cent every year on average, mainly as a result of increased runoff due to urbanisation.
Effective recharge is concisely defined as the volume of water added to the aquifers from natural and other sources. In the period 2004-2014, groundwater abstraction per person went up by 35.4 per cent, from 76.8 cubic metres in 2004 to 103.9 cubic metres in 2014.
Waste
Waste generation reflects society’s production and consumption patterns and represents a loss of material and energy resources. Considering two points in time, 2013 and 2004, total generation of non-mineral waste increased by 15.9 per cent in the former year over the latter year. This was mainly due to a rise of 24.8 per cent in non-hazardous waste. Generation of hazardous waste dropped by 48.3 per cent. A similar trend was observed in respect of waste generation per person. In 2013, a total of 0.9 tonnes of waste were generated per person of which the majority was classified as non-hazardous waste.
Energy
Energy is an enabler of economic development and social progress, however its production and consumption has wide-ranging impacts on the environment. From 2009 to 2014, 55.8 per cent of gross fuel consumption was made up of fuel oil, primarily used for energy generation in power stations. Analysis of the available time series shows that up to 2012 gross consumption of fuel oil registered year-on-year increases; however, in 2013 a decrease of 18.4 per cent was observed, mainly as a result of changes in the set-up of power generation facilities.