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Summary Report STATE OF THE ENVIRONMENT REPORT 2018 SUMMARY REPORT Environment & Resources Authority Published in November 2018 by the Environment and Resources Authority (ERA) Hexagon House, Spencer Hill, Marsa, MRS 1441, Malta Copyright © 2018 Environment and Resources Authority ISBN: 978-99957-1-411-6 This report has been compiled by the Environment and Resources Authority in partnership with the National Statistics Office. STATE OF THE ENVIRONMENT REPORT 2018 SUMMARY REPORT CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES 4 LIST OF TABLES 6 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 7 FORWARD 9 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 10 1 INTRODUCTION 14 2 THE CONTEXT OF ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY: CROSS-CUTTING 15 2.1 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 15 2.2 NATIONAL ENVIRONMENT POLICY 15 2.3 ENVIRONMENTAL LEGISLATION 16 2.4 POLICIES AND ACTION PLANS 16 3 DRIVING FORCES 18 4 BIODIVERSITY 26 4.1 INVASIVE ALIEN SPECIES 30 4.2 DESIGNATION AND MANAGEMENT OF PROTECTED AREAS 30 4.3 LEGISLATIVE UPDATES 32 4.4 RESEARCH AND OUTREACH 32 5 MARINE AND FRESH WATERS 34 5.1 PRESSURES 34 5.2 STATUS 39 5.3 IMPROVING THE STATUS OF MARINE AND FRESH WATERS 42 6 RESOURCES AND WASTE 44 7 LAND AND COAST 50 7.1 LAND COVER 50 7.2 COUNTRYSIDE 51 7.3 URBAN AREAS AND CULTURAL HERITAGE 55 7.4 THE COAST 56 7.5 IMPROVING LAND USE EFFICIENCY 56 8 AMBIENT AIR 57 9 ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH 65 9.1 SAFE WATER AND SANITATION 65 9.2 SAFE ENVIRONMENTS AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY 67 10 CLIMATE CHANGE 70 10.1 STATE 70 10.2 NATIONAL EMISSIONS OF GREENHOUSE GASES 72 10.3 LOCAL PRESSURES ON THE ENVIRONMENT 77 10.4 ADAPTATION 77 11 POLICY RESPONSES 78 11.1 ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY INTERVENTIONS 78 11.2 ENVIRONMENTAL GOVERNANCE 83 11.3 ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY INTEGRATION 84 ACRONYMS 86 ENDNOTES 91 REFERENCES 93 LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 2.1 POSITION OF NATIONAL ENVIRONMENT POLICY IN POLICY HIERARCHY 16 FIGURE 3.1 POPULATION DENSITY BY CENSUS DISTRICT 19 FIGURE 3.2 FOREIGN NATIONALS AS A PERCENTAGE OF THE TOTAL POPULATION IN MALTA 19 FIGURE 3.3 MONTHLY INBOUND TOURISTS FOR THE YEARS 2008-2015, AND THE MONTHLY AVERAGE PERCENTAGE CHANGE AND MONTHLY AVERAGE PERCENTAGE SHARE OF TOTAL INBOUND TOURISTS FOR THE SAME 20 PERIOD ON THE SECONDARY AXES FIGURE 3.4 MEPA DWELLING APPROVALS FROM BETWEEN 2008 AND 2015 21 FIGURE 3.5 LAND-TYPE CATEGORISATIONS AS A PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL NEW DEVELOPMENTS 21 FIGURE 3.6 BILLED ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION BY SECTOR 22 FIGURE 3.7 TOTAL STOCK VEHICLE FLEET IN MALTA, AND VEHICLES PER CAPITA 24 FIGURE 3.8 ECONOMIC SECTORS SHARE OF THE GROSS VALUE ADDED 25 FIGURE 4.1 BREEDING AND WINTERING BIRD POPULATION TRENDS DURING THE SHORT- AND LONG- TERM INTERIMS 29 FIGURE 4.2 BREEDING AND WINTERING BIRD RANGE TRENDS DURING THE SHORT- AND LONG-TERM INTERIMS 29 FIGURE 5.1 NATIONAL WATER DEMAND 34 FIGURE 5.2 TOTAL ANNUAL POTABLE WATER PRODUCTION: 2000-2015 35 FIGURE 5.3 OVERALL GROUNDWATER QUALITY STATUS OVER THE PERIOD 2009, 2015 IN TERMS OF NITRATES, 39 PESTICIDES, SEAWATER INTRUSION AND OTHER QUALITY PARAMETERS FIGURE 5.4 TRENDS IN 95 PERCENTILE VALUES OF E.COLI (CFU/100ML) FOR THE FOUR ZONES, OVER THE BATHING 41 SEASONS: 2010-2015 FIGURE 6.1 TOTAL WASTE GENERATED BY TYPE 2007-2015 (CONSTRUCTION AND DEMOLITION WASTE ON SECONDARY AXES, AND HAZARDOUS WASTE IS A PROPORTION OF MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE AND COMMERCIAL AND 44 INDUSTRIAL WASTE) FIGURE 6.2 2012-2015 AVERAGE COMPOSITION OF C&D WASTE (%) 45 FIGURE 6.3 RATE OF REUSE, RECOVERY AND RECYCLING OF END-OF-LIFE VEHICLES ARISING IN MALTA 47 FIGURE 6.4 RESOURCE PRODUCTIVITY 2004-2015 48 FIGURE 7.1 LAND TYPE DEVELOPMENT FOR DWELLING UNITS 50 FIGURE 7.2 UTILISED AGRICULTURAL LAND AREA (HA) BY TYPE 51 FIGURE 7.3 AVERAGE ANNUAL SOIL LOSS (T HA-1 YR-1) IN THE MALTESE ISLANDS FOLLOWING RUSLE EQUATION 52 FIGURE 7.4 TREES PLANTED 55 FIGURE 8.1 THE NUMBER OF EXCEEDANCES, N, OF THE 8-HOUR 120 µG/M3 LIMIT FOR O AT MSIDA, ŻEJTUN AND 3 60 GĦARB MONITORING STATIONS COMPARED TO THE LIMIT OF PERMITTED 25 ANNUAL EXCEEDANCES FIGURE 8.2 ANNUAL MEAN PM CONCENTRATION FOR THE MSIDA, ŻEJTUN AND GĦARB STATIONS COMPARED TO THE 10 60 ANNUAL LIMIT OF 40 µG/M3 FIGURE 8.3 THE NUMBER OF EXCEEDANCES OF THE DAILY 50 µG/M3 LIMIT AT MSIDA, ŻEJTUN AND GĦARB MONITORING 61 STATIONS COMPARED TO THE LIMIT OF PERMITTED 35 ANNUAL EXCEEDANCES FIGURE 8.4 ANNUAL MEAN PM CONCENTRATION FOR THE MSIDA, ŻEJTUN AND GĦARB STATIONS COMPARED TO THE 2.5 62 ANNUAL LIMIT OF 25 µG/M3 [4] FIGURE 8.5 ANNUAL MEAN NO CONCENTRATION FOR THE MSIDA, ŻEJTUN AND GĦARB STATIONS COMPARED TO THE 2 63 ANNUAL LIMIT OF 40 µG/M3 FIGURE 8.6 NO CONCENTRATIONS AROUND THE MALTESE ISLANDS OBTAINED FROM THE PASSIVE DIFFUSION TUBE 2 63 NETWORK FIGURE 9.1 YEARLY AVERAGE WATER BORON LEVELS (MG/L) IN THE WATER SERVICES CORPORATION (WSC) 2015 66 WATER QUALITY ZONES (WQZ) FIGURE 10.1 TREND OF THE ANNUAL MEAN AIR TEMPERATURE OVER THE MALTESE ISLANDS OBSERVED DURING THE 71 PERIOD 1981-2015 FIGURE 10.2 TREND OF THE ANNUAL TOTAL PRECIPITATION REGISTERED IN THE MALTESE ISLANDS DURING THE PERIOD 71 1981-2015 FIGURE 10.3 GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS TRENDS BY GAS, 1990-2015 72 FIGURE 10.4 EMISSION TRENDS FOR CH4, TOTAL AND BY SECTOR, 1990-2015 73 FIGURE 10.5 EMISSION TRENDS FOR N2O, TOTAL AND BY SECTOR, 1990-2015 73 FIGURE 10.6 EMISSION TRENDS FOR HFCS, PFCS AND SF6, 1990-2015 74 FIGURE 10.7 GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSION TRENDS BY SECTOR, 1990-2015 74 FIGURE 10.8 EMISSION TRENDS FOR THE ENERGY SECTOR, TOTAL AND BY CATEGORY, 1990-2015 75 FIGURE 10.9 TREND IN EMISSIONS PER CAPITA COMPARED TO POPULATION GROWTH TREND 76 FIGURE 10.10 TREND IN THE EMISSIONS INTENSITY OF MALTA’S ECONOMY, IN TERMS OF GHG EMISSIONS PER UNIT GDP, 76 1990-2015 GHG EMISSIONS/GDP GDP FIGURE 10.11 PROJECTIONS OF GHG EMISSIONS COVERED BY THE EFFORT-SHARING DECISION AND PROJECTED 77 SITUATION COMPARED TO 2013-2020 TARGETS UNDER THAT DECISION FIGURE 11.1 TAX REVENUES AS A PERCENTAGE OF GDP (AT 2017 PRICES) 78 FIGURE 11.2 GENERAL GOVERNMENT EXPENDITURE ON ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 80 FIGURE 11.3 ENVIRONMENTAL PERMITS RELEASED BETWEEN 2009 AND 2015 80 FIGURE 11.4 NUMBER OF ENVIRONMENTAL ENQUIRIES PROCESSED BY MEPA BETWEEN 2011 AND 2015 84 FIGURE 11.5 NUMBER OF DEVELOPMENT APPLICATIONS BETWEEN 2009 AND 2015 REQUIRING AN EIA 85 [5] LIST OF TABLES TABLE 4.1 ANNEX I HABITAT TYPES WHICH OCCUR IN MALTA CATEGORISED BY HABITAT GROUP AND THEIR 2007 AND 2013 ASSESSMENTS, WHERE: ‘FV’ MEANS ‘FAVOURABLE’; ‘XX’ MEANS ‘UNKNOWN’; ‘U1’ MEANS 27 ‘UNFAVOURABLE – INADEQUATE’; AND ‘U2’ MEANS ‘UNFAVOURABLE – BAD’ TABLE 4.2 ANNEX II, IV & V SPECIES WHICH OCCUR IN MALTA CATEGORISED BY TAXONOMIC GROUP AND THEIR 2007 AND 2013 ASSESSMENTS, WHERE: ‘FV’ MEANS ‘FAVOURABLE’; ‘XX’ MEANS ‘UNKNOWN’; ‘U1’ MEANS 28 ‘UNFAVOURABLE – INADEQUATE’; ‘U2’ MEANS ‘UNFAVOURABLE – BAD’; AND A BLANK SPACE MEANS THAT THE SPECIES WAS YET KNOWN FROM MALTA TABLE 5.1 AN OVERVIEW OF THE CHEMICAL PRESSURES CHARACTERISTIC TO MALTESE COASTAL WATERS 36 TABLE 5.2 FISH LANDINGS IN TONNES, IN MALTA OVER THE PERIOD 2013-2014 40 TABLE 7.1 TOTAL APPROVED FLOOR SPACE 2008-2015 IN SQ.M BY SECTOR 51 TABLE 7.2 NUMBER OF DWELLING UNITS APPROVED ODZ, AND THE EQUIVALENT PERCENTAGE OF THE TOTAL NUMBER 52 OF DWELLING UNITS APPROVED FOR THE SAME YEAR TABLE 7.3 LIST OF THE TOTAL FLOOR SPACES APPROVED FOR NON-DWELLING USES ODZ, BETWEEN 2008 AND 2015 53 TABLE 7.4 SCHEDULED ITEMS/AREAS BY YEAR AND CATEGORY 56 TABLE 8.1 A LIST OF AIR POLLUTANTS AND THEIR SOURCES 57 TABLE 8.2 NATIONAL EMISSION OF SELECTED POLLUTANTS IN 2015 COMPARED NATIONAL REDUCTION TARGETS FOR 64 THESE POLLUTANTS IN 2020 AND 2030 TABLE 9.1 SAMPLES ANALYSED (2014-2016) FOR MRL OF PESTICIDES IN LOCAL, EU OR IMPORTED PRODUCE 69 [6] ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Environment and Resources Authority (ERA) expresses its appreciation to those who have contributed to the drafting of this report: John Attard Kingswell (Department for Health Regulation); Christine Baluci (Department for Health Regulation); Michelle Borg (Planning Authority); Paul Brejza (Radiation Protection Board, Occupational Health & Safety Authority); Marie Briguglio (University of Malta); Anja Delia (Planning Authority); Margaret Cassar (Ministry for the Environment, Sustainable Development, and Climate Change); Charles Galdies (University of Malta); Kevin Gatt (University of Malta); Joseph Gauci (Planning Authority); Paula Grech Bonnici (Water Service Corporation); Emmanuel Sinagra (University of Malta); Jonathan Spiteri (University of Malta) and Saviour Vassallo (Malta Resources Authority) as well as Victor Axiak (ERA Chairman), the ERA Board and the following ERA officials: Ruben Abela; Josianne Abela Vassallo; Maria Alonso Bomba; Anthony Aquilina; Sandro Bonanno; Alexander Borg; Duncan Borg; Aimee Brincat; Elysia Bugeja; Alex Camilleri; Catherine Camilleri; Marguerite Camilleri; Claire Cordina Borg; Christopher Cousin; Gabriella Dalmas; Noelle Debono; Nathalie Ellul; Lorna Farrugia; Marie Therese Gambin; Matthew Grima Connell; Jonathan Henwood; Kevin Mercieca; Nadine Mercieca; Stefano Miceli; Georgesam Mizzi; Michelle Piccinino; Martin Psaila; Miraine Rizzo; Daniella Sammut; Mark Scerri; Lisa Jane Schembri Gambin; Louise Spiteri; Darrin T. Stevens; Nadia Suda Lanzon; Daniel Sultana; Sergio Tartaglia and Daniel Xuereb. Gratitude is also due to those who contributed to the compilation of this report, including: BirdLife Malta; Energy & Water Agency; Environmental Health Directorate; Malta Airport MetOffice; Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority; Ministry for the Environment, Sustainable Development and Climate Change; National Statistics Office; Nature Trust Malta; The Gaia Foundation; Transport Malta; and Water Services Corporation. Photography by Martin Psaila, ERA except for photograph on page 43.
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