One would have imagined that given the extreme sensitivity of all things environmental lately, and also considering the recent state-sponsored environmental transgressions that are being committed or whose commission is in the pipeline, that the government would seize every opportunity to induce at least a semblance of inclusiveness on the new environmental policies it is drafting and seemingly rushing through Parliament.

Yesterday’s parliamentary debate on the splitting of the Malta Environment and Planning Authority was one such golden opportunity to have provided civil society with a morsel of inclusivity.

After all, the challenges and opportunities that arise from an exercise as fundamentally important and potentially redefining to the environment and the use of land in this small country of ours are truly enormous – redefining how the country’s fragile environment is to be best protected and regulated, and its last remaining open spaces are put to the best use for this and future generations. 

What better way to bring civil society on board, rather than have it walk the plank yet again, and perhaps turn over something of a fresh leaf in this bitter and most recent chapter in the environment vs development saga?

The fact that the government has not done just that, and coupled by the fact that the government has ridden roughshod over environmental lobbies’ demands for adequate time to analyse the government’s proposals, gives credence to claims that the Mepa demerger is merely aimed at limiting environmentalists’ voices from planning decisions and at the same time favouring those who would seek to develop every square inch of these islands.

The splitting of Mepa’s operations was one of the government’s electoral proposals and as such it has a political mandate to steam ahead with the plans, but that does not mean that it has a right to steamroll over civil society by not affording it enough time to analyse the draft laws and to provide proper, studied feedback.

Although the laws dealing with the Mepa demerger have been in the works for some 30 months, they were only made publically available on Friday.  On Monday environmental NGOs were given just 24 hours’ notice to analyse the legislation, come up with their critiques and proposals and to present them at a parliamentary committee meeting on Tuesday. 

What, exactly, is the sudden rush all about, one must ask.

NGOs described the situation as an insult to civil society, as well as a blatant disregard of the Aarhus Convention, of which Malta is a signatory and which guarantees civil society the right to participate in environmental decision-making processes – and they are quite right.

There is to be a public consultation process that will last for four weeks but the government was, however, determined at all costs to discuss the laws in their second reading in Parliament yesterday, much to the chagrin of the NGOs who had demanded more time to provide feedback before the sensitive issue is discussed by Members of Parliament.

With all the environmental mayhem and the raging controversies of the day, it is unbelievable that the government is not at least attempting to elicit just a little goodwill from its environmental opponents by, at the very least, going through the motion s of a proper consultation exercise, if not bending over backwards to accommodate environmentalists’ not-all-that-unreasonable demands. 

After all, the laws will not be passed until House activity resumes after the summer recess.

So again, what is the rush about?  All the government has managed to do in its haste is to have alienated itself even more from civil society at large and from environmentalists in particular.

As Din l-Art Helwa said yesterday about this sorry state of affairs, the government’s green credentials have hit rock bottom.