Left think tank organisation Zminijietna have said that the proposed policies for the protection of the environment “are not enough.”

In a statement, it added that “it is a positive step forward the proposal to have ERA Board meetings open to the public, where the public will be given the right to appeal on decisions they disagree with.”

Zminijietna went on to say that “ERA should be given the power to stop development proposals that are a threat to ecology and are not environmentally sustainable. Without this change, ERA will remain an inefficient and weak Authority.”

In relation to the Nationalist Party proposal for a bill in Parliament, which would establish the right to a healthy, clean and sustainable environment, while establishing the right for a person to enforce their environmental rights, Zminijietna questioned the role and position ERA will have.

Zminijietna stressed that, “there is a need for less rhetoric, and for more policies that protect the environment.”

It also pointed out that “the fact that environmental organisations waste much of their resources fighting environmental battles legally shows how much weak the environmental protection regulations’ are.”

Zminijietna concluded by saying that it looks forward to having a progressive law in Malta that tax vacant and abandoned properties.

File photo: Gozo News/Alain Salvary

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