Eco-Gozo’s sustainable development
I refer to the opinion piece The Eco-Gozo Concept Hype by Leo Brincat (September 16).
The arguments he puts forward indicate clearly that he is short of understanding what sustainable development really means. He insists that some (sic) of the projects listed under the Eco-Gozo initiative have nothing to do with it. This is indeed astonishing when he is meant to be his party’s spokesman on sustainable development – but shows he does not even know its basic definition. The Ministry for Gozo invites Mr Brincat to have a look at the many Eco-Gozo projects currently being implemented by the government, local councils and NGOs in Gozo and provide a list of those which – according to him – are not related to sustainable development.
With regard to the proposals for development at Ħondoq ir-Rummien, the Minister for Gozo reiterates her position that she will respect the outcome of the planning process and the ensuing decision taken by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority on the matter.
One must however note that Mr Brincat was himself a member of the Cabinet of a Prime Minister who very strongly advocated the development of a marina in this same place. What was his opinion then, and when did it change, if it has changed?
Contrary to what he alleged in his opinion piece, the Ministry for Gozo is not “holding back” the publication of any strategy on Eco-Gozo. The Action Plan outlining action on the implementation of Eco-Gozo has been in the public domain since November 2009. It is not “mere” proposed action but is the plan adopted by the government – currently being implemented - for the implementation of the Eco-Gozo vision in the years 2010-2012, following the public consultation process held in 2009. Failing to know such basic information does not augur well for the credibility of the Mr Brincat in commenting on the Ministry for Gozo’s work on Eco-Gozo, or in deciding which projects relate to it or not! To add insult to injury, he was also one of the members of Parliament who voted against the allocation of €25 million over three years for the implementation of this Eco-Gozo short-term action plan. Mr Brincat also seems to ignore the fact that the government has already committed itself to go back to the people to develop another action plan for the years following 2012.
There is absolutely no resistance from the Ministry for Gozo to the publication of a “300-page plus document” which Mr Brincat erroneously describes as a “full report on Eco-Gozo”, but which in effect is the result of the very extensive public consultation process held at the start of this legislature. The Ministry for Gozo reiterates once again that in due course, this full result of the public consultation exercise will be published – for its own merits and usefulness rather than as a yield to the “digging in” by the Mr Brincat.
Finally one notes that the real insult to one’s intelligence is not in informing the public on what government and civil society are doing to see that the promise of Eco-Gozo delivered, but in having the PL spokesman on sustainable development insistently trying to belittle what is in effect a bottom-up effort by Gozitan society to improve its environmental credentials and the quality of life on the island of Gozo.
posted by Hondoq at
6:25 PM
