The Environment & Resources Authority (ERA), under the auspices of the Environment Protection Act (Cap.549), is required to develop policies to address environmental concerns and to encourage the integration of environmental considerations in external policies. Regular state of the environment reports have been published as part of this process, and as part of a commitment towards providing environmental information in a form that is easily accessible and user-friendly.
The Environment Protection Act obliges the competent authority, ERA, to publish a state of the environment report every four years. Supplementing this obligation is the publishing of annual updates of key environmental indicators used in the report. It is hoped that through this initiative, policymakers, opinion leaders, and members of the public will be able to keep abreast of environmental trends, while having access to more long-term, detailed information and analysis in the state of the environment reports.
State of the Environment Report 2018
The Environment Report Indicators 2010 – 2011
The Environment Report Indicators 2009
The Environment Report 2008
State of the Environment Indicators 2007
State of the Environment Indicators 2006
State of the Environment Report 2005
State of the Environment Report 2002
State of the Environment Report 1998
The European Environment Agency (EEA) coordinates periodic assessments of the European environment’s state and outlook with a comprehensive overview of the effectiveness of environmental policy and the state of the European regional environment as a whole. The assessment also explores and identifies the possibilities of improving existing policies and how they can be better implemented.
In developing the European State and Outlook report, the EEA collects a wealth of information from the EIONET (the European Environment Information and Observation Network, a partnership between the EEA and the 39 member and cooperative countries) and international/ regional entities such as the European Commission, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), World Health Organisation (WHO) and United Nations (UN). Additionally, the EEA also includes information from the most recent national state of the environment reports from all participating European states into its assessment.
The most recent report is the European Environment – State and Outlook 2020, which was launched in December 2019. The press release of the event is available in English and Maltese.
More information on The European Environment – State and Outlook 2020 can be accessed from here.
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) produces the Global Environment Outlook (GEO) to assess the current state of the global environment, evaluate the effectiveness of policies and actions taken to address environmental issues, and projects future environmental trends.
The most recent publication is the sixth Global Environment Outlook 2019 – GEO 6; which calls upon the decision-makers, policy-makers and all of society to work on addressing the current environmental issues and pave the way in achieving the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and other international environment goals (e.g. the Paris Agreement). Through these assessments, they use scientific information and data while analysing available environmental policy to identify the issues that need to be addressed in achieving sustainable development by 2050.
Work on the seventh Global Environment Outlook (GEO-7) is underway. GEO-7 proposes to build on key findings from GEO-6 and those of other major assessments. GEO-7 will also continue to assess the state and trends on the global environment, the implications for human well-being and the achievement of the SDGs, as well as providing an outlook that provides useful guidance on the possible environmental and socio-economic implications of the transformational changes needed.
More information on the Global Environment Outlook can be accessed from here.
At a regional level, Plan Bleu carries out studies and future scenario exercises to raise awareness on the Mediterranean region’s sustainable development issues amongst decision-makers, stakeholders and society.
Plan Bleu is one of the Regional Activity Centres that feeds into the Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP) as an initiative under the United Nations Environment Programme ‘s (UNEP) Regional Seas Programme. Its work is approved every two years by the contracting parties (including Malta) to the Barcelona Convention.
The missions of Plan Bleu are:
- Observing environment and development to enlighten decision makers
- Shaping possible futures for sustainable development
- Monitoring the implementation of the Mediterranean Strategy for Sustainable Development
- Integrating climate change as a priority
- Supporting the transition towards a green and blue economy
- Shedding socio-economic light for the appropriate management of Mediterranean resources
One of the reports produced by Plan Bleu is the State of Environment and Development in Mediterranean 2020 (SoED 2020), which provides a comprehensive and up-to-date assessment of environmental and development interactions in the Mediterranean region. More information is available here.
More information on Plan Bleu can be accessed from here.
