Environmental auditing : foundations of environmental planning : the Malta case

Abstract

The Maltese political level seems keen to portray the archipelago with the environmental avant garde. Traditionally, 'green' concerns fail to spring strong roots within Maltese society. Local Councils, the Planning Authority, and the Parliamentary Secretariat for the Environment are the three key institutions which influence the Maltese environment. To date, environmental intervention was biased towards the visual and the spatial. 'Environmental Auditing' could prove the impetus which rectifies the balance between spatial and non-spatial 'green' intervention. 'Environmental Auditing' is a managerial process which generates a picture of a location's environmental condition. Of recent, manufacturing industry origin, 'environmental auditing' adapts to various private and public sector roles. This blurs its significance and meaning. 'State of the Environment Reports' are a novel public sector adaptation of 'environmental auditing'. Providing a general picture of a state's environmental condition, they act as the impetus for non-spatial environmental frameworks or plans. These lead to 'green' interventions. The altered environmental condition raises the need for yet another 'State of the Environment Report' - thus completing the ongoing cyclical process. 'Non-spatial environmental planning' is still being defined. Its 'environmental auditing' origins are but one approach. Nations are interdependent. Environmental issues do not respect national boundaries. Supranational concerns influence national environmental commitments. Concentrating on the Malta case, this is accentuated by the islands' European Union membership bid. Any institutional change has to be seen within this context - 'environmental auditing' and 'non-spatial environmental planning' introduction are no exceptions. Change can only come about if the context it targets is receptive. The Maltese political, decision making level seems to have taken 'environmental auditing' on board. Yet, society's recent 'greening' generates the need for non-spatial environmental intervention - 'pollution' is a main concern to many Maltese. Although not necessarily so, many query wealth generating processes. How do Maltese wealth generators react? Are they really 'green'? Would they voluntarily (or forcibly) subscribe to 'green' issues? Will they participate in an 'environmental auditing' scheme? Drawing together the contextual, the conceptual, the regulatory and the reactive, an 'environmental auditing' model for the Maltese islands emerges. This cyclical process combines private and public sector 'environmental auditing' concepts; together they act as the basis for 'non-spatial environmental planning'. With social and economic frameworks, they provide direction to the spatial planning process. Thus Environmental Auditing could prove the foundation of Environmental Planning within the Malta case.