State of the Environment Reports

Regular state of the environment reports have been published as part of a commitment towards providing environmental information in a form that is easily accessible and user-friendly. These reports are also available online. The Environment Protection Act obliges the competent authority, ERA, to publish a state of the environment report every four years. Supplimenting 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

ERA’s Responses to the Office of the Ombudsman’s Review of the State of the Environment Report: Download

Ombudsman Commissioner for Environment and Planning: Opinion on the State of the Environment Report 2018: Download

Pdf versions of the State of the Environment Reports are available at the following links:

State of the Environment Indicators are available here.

Additional information on State of the Environment Indicators per year of publication is included below:

The Environment Report 2008

Welcome to the 2008 Environment Report. This report builds on the tradition of quality environmental reporting found in past editions of the State of the Environment Report in 2005, 2002 and 1998. The 2008 report has been branded to ensure that the tradition of making environmental information ever more accessible to policymakers and the public is kept up, in line with Malta’s legal obligations under the Environment Protection Act, the Aarhus Convention and related EU Directives.

The Environment Report aims to communicate key environmental issues and trends to policymakers and civil society in a clear and concise way. Its seeks to increase awareness and understanding of key environmental trends, to provide a sound evidence base for policy and decision-making, and to facilitate the measurement of environmental performance and progress towards sustainability. The Report is accompanied by a booklet of key environmental indicators, and any readers interested in ‘digging down’ to find more information and resources will find all the relevant documents including the report, the indicators booklet, the Sub-reports, background reports, and key datasheets and maps used in the writing of the report on this website.

This year, the Environment Report takes a broader approach to analysing the environment sector, while retaining the basic structure of the Report. The Report provides a better understanding of the key policies and legislative instruments in each field. It also includes a chapter on the relationship between the environment and economic activity, as well as a chapter on environmental health. In this way the Report explores more closely how environmental issues impact our daily lives in terms of health and the economy.

View The Environment Report 2008
Errata corrige

View The Environment Report Indicators 2008
Errata corrige

State of the Environment Report 2005

Welcome to the 2005 State of the Environment Report (SOER). The aim of this Report is to support progress towards sustainable development by providing credible environmental information to policy makers, organisations and the general public. It should also provide guidance for the development of new policy directions and help identify investment requirements.

Due to the increasingly sophisticated environmental policy in force in Malta following institutional strengthening and EU accession, and the increasing amounts of environmental information being collected, a new approach has been adopted for the 2005 SOER. This approach seeks to provide information that is more policy-oriented, and focused on key trends in a way that is easily comprehensible to a wide range of audiences.

This website includes and complements the 2005 Report, since it contains all the publications related to the Report. It provides copies of the various Sub-reports that were the building blocks of the individual SOER chapters, as well as indicators, datasheets, background reports and related documents. The rationale here is that this information needs to be available in an easy-to-use format for readers interested in ‘digging down’ more deeply into the report’s findings. The 2005 SOER has been compiled by MEPA in partnership with the National Statistics Office (NSO), and draws upon detailed information sources including the environmental monitoring programmes carried out by numerous government agencies including the Malta Resources Authority and the Department of Public Health.

State of the Environment Report 2002

The 2002 State of the Environment Report for Malta was published by the Ministry for Home Affairs and the Environment in August 2002. The report provides a snapshot of the status of the main components of the environment, identifies areas of pressures, identifies response measures, assesses trends in the overall quality of the environment, and recommends measures for improvement. The 2002 report included chapters on the following topics: environmental planning, management and sustainability; physical background, demography, tourism, mineral resources and land use; living resources, fisheries and agriculture; the coast and freshwater resources; solid and liquid wastes; natural and technological risks; energy: transformation, use and environmental impact; air quality; environmental education; and, general conclusions.

View the SOER 2002​ 

State of the Environment Report 1998

The 1998 State of the Environment Report was commissioned by the Environment Protection Department within the Ministry for Environment, and published in August 1999. The report seeks to serve as a tool for environmental management. It sought to translate a scientific assessment and evaluation of the current state of the environment into a format which could be intelligently used by policy and decision-makers. The report also included a non-technical summary addressed to the general public, with a view to increasing awareness and understanding of environmental issues. The 1998 report included chapters on the following topics: population and tourism; land use; the land and non-renewable resources; wildlife; fisheries and agriculture; the coast; freshwater; wastes; energy; air quality; and, environmental policy and education.

View the SOER 1998 ​

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