Environment is Leading Concern in Constitutional Reform

Following publication of the results of the public consultation on Constitutional Reform, published on Monday, it results that 25% of respondents were gravely concerned about the Malta Constitution’s lack of protection for our islands’ natural and cultural and heritage.

In October 2019 Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar campaigned with its members to submit proposed changes, in response to the public consultation for constitutional reform. The protection of Malta’s environment and heritage offered by our Constitution is purely symbolic, as while it states:

(1) The State shall safeguard the landscape and the historical and artistic patrimony of the Nation.

(2) The State shall protect and conserve the environment and its resources for the benefit of the present and future generations and shall take measures to address any form of environmental degradation in Malta, including that of air, water and land, and any sort of pollution problem and to promote, nurture and support the right of action in favour of the environment.

All this is undermined in the Declaration of Principles (clause 21):

The provisions of this Chapter shall not be enforceable in any court…

 

 

For this reason, it was not possible to invoke the Constitution in cases of decisions that destroy Malta’s landscapes, heritage and quality of life, such as the Mistra Towers, the db ITS project, and the Mrieħel Quad Towers, to mention but a few.

In this time of environmental degradation, FAA maintains that protection needs to go further, requesting that a separate section is added to the Constitution specifically to ensure that protection of Malta’s heritage, environment, archaeology and historic landscapes, is ensured and enforceable by the necessary structures, administrative resources and effective legal remedies.

Until such measures are put in place, the fate of our natural environment and cultural heritage will remain at the mercy of developers’ interests. Major recent examples include the threat of tall buildings engulfing Villa Barbaro in Tarxien, new road projects such as the Central Link and Sta Lucia Tunnels, as well as the Mercury Tower in Paceville, all of which are causing major damage to our landscape, destroying archaeology and impacting scheduled (protected) buildings.

It is not enough to claim, as politicians often do, that every planning decision may be appealed against by eNGOs, as it is the State that is responsible for safeguarding the landscapes and historical and patrimony of our country, not NGOs. Ultimately, the State is responsible for all laws and policies governing our lives, and the high level of public support for FAA’s reform proposal shows that the public also maintains that the Constitution of Malta requires the means to hold the State to account.