Is there environmental justice in the Maltese Islands?

Abstract

In the past decades brisk industrialisation took place in the south so as to bring our islands to a good economic standpoint. However the industrialisation took place without any environmental considerations in mind. This provided ample space for environmental exploitation in these areas and disseminated an overall sense of injustice in the southern regions which is still felt nowadays. It is in this light that we set out to investigate whether there exists environmental injustice, in the way that point source pollutants are distributed across the map. Our studies show that an inequality exists between the north and the south. Furthermore, local participation in environmental issues is limited and adult environmental education courses are not available. Owing to this, we decided to conduct a survey in the locality Birzebbugia, one of the most affected regions, which proved a major sense of disempowerment and lack of awareness among the citizens of this locality. From the results obtained we felt the need to draft a set of guidelines, for an adult environmental programme that will hopefully help raise awareness and consciousness about environmental issues and citizen action in Malta.