Prologue : a decade of change as a stepping stone for the future

Abstract

A decade is long enough to permit genuine reflection and look back at decisions taken, and then, perhaps short enough to retain the energy and urgency of an organisation that is always evolving into a newer, or fuller shape.

The Environment and Resources Authority is, in the longer arc of Maltese environmental governance, a ‘young’ institution, at least in the context of its 2016 demerger from what was back then the Malta Environment and Planning Authority. In terms of institution building, this youth is no limitation. Indeed, I would argue that it is precisely what makes this moment worth examining with care.

ERA emerged in 2016 from a deliberate separation of environmental governance from spatial planning. The logic was sound: that protecting the environment requires a dedicated institutional voice, one not subordinated to the competing pressures of development or economic growth, or even administrative convenience. Today ERA functions in full knowledge that the principle, that the environment deserves its own champion within government, is the foundation on which everything else rests. [extract]