The latest IPCC report on the climate crisis has been on the news, warning the world that it is ‘code red for humanity’. Meanwhile, the Mediterranean is in the middle of a heat wave and forest fires have been ravaging Greece and Turkey. Malta is no stranger to fires, with 4,600 trees destroyed across a quarter of Miżieb in 2019. Climate change creates the conditions for such fires to become more frequent, more likely and more ferocious, regardless of how they actually start.

It is all a game of probability. So, let us be clear – Malta is going to be as affected as everyone else, even if we do not have as many trees to lose in the first place. It might be easy to dismiss the climate crisis as a concern for other, larger countries, but in fact, it was Malta which put the topic on the agenda of the United Nations in 1988. We have proof that even a small country can punch above its weight to make a difference on the topic.

In the year 1988, Malta tabled the issue of climate change as an agenda item during the 43rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly. The result of this was the unanimous adoption by the General Assembly of a Resolution titled the “Protection of Global Climate for Present and Future Generations of Mankind”. It put climate change on the global radar, transforming a scientific discussion into political action.

Of course, the political action has been lacking and remains extremely far from what is needed to avoid the worst effects of the crisis. However, the point is that Malta should not be thinking of its potential impact only in terms of the emissions that it can cut down on. It is time to return to wielding more diplomatic clout on this subject.

There are various crises gripping the world right now of an environmental nature. Even if the fundamental challenge of the climate crisis was resolved magically tomorrow, we would still be facing biodiversity collapse from deforestation, pesticide use and development of natural habitats. We would still face a poisoned ocean from an ever-increasing tide of plastics being created, which can only be tackled through a prohibitive tax on the creation of virgin plastics.

Our natural systems are interlinked, and the effects of the climate crisis has already led to an increasing level of acidity of our oceans, which threatens its natural ecosystems and thus our own. Malta takes pride in its role in the Law of the Sea, too. So on all of these issues, can Malta not step up once again, as it has in the past, to speak as a vulnerable island-state on all of these issues not only on a European level, but on a global one?

Malta should be using every available resource to foster lively discussion about the issues which are at stake. We should be providing a platform to leading scientists to come together in Malta and exhibit their findings and discuss their research, and give them the coverage they deserve. We should be carrying out pilot projects in Malta to test green technologies and solutions, and increasing our budget in research and innovation across the board. We should be using our diplomatic network and our soft power to help promising projects find funding and attention.

Malta should become a hub for eco-innovation, and project its voice globally. Our leading politicians should all be leading in this regard, speaking the facts plainly as they are. The world is in trouble, and Malta, for once, is no island in this regard. We are all interconnected. So let us, as a country, speak with a common voice on this issue. It is time to move beyond rhetoric. An existential threat deserves nothing less than complete dedication. We did it before, so we can do it again.

Mark Zerafa
ADPD Deputy Chairperson
Published in The Malta Independent – Sunday 15 August 2021