The Malta Environment & Planning Authority (MEPA) has secured over €4.9 million to finance a project which they say will radically improve the national environmental monitoring infrastructure and capacity.
The new investment will contribute to achieving partial, and, in some cases full compliance with the monitoring requirements of around 17 legislative instruments.
Environmental monitoring is required by EU and national legislation, and the availability of high quality real time information on the state of the environment is critical for the design and implementation of most national development and economic policies. The project is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund, MEPA, and the national Government under the Operational Programme 1 – Investing in Competitiveness for a Better Quality of Life.
The initiative focuses on radically improving the national environmental monitoring capacity in five environmental themes – air, water, radiation, noise, and soil. It will result in the development of the national environmental monitoring strategy, procurement of equipment, information management systems, environmental baseline surveys, training of staff, and the enhancement of the national monitoring programmes in these five environmental themes.
The project will also result in the collection of critical baseline data in the areas of water, radiation, noise and soil, as well as in the carrying out terrestrial 3D spatial surveys and bathymetric surveys of coastal waters within 1 nautical mile from the Maltese Islands’ coastline.
Tenders for the delivery of the above equipment and services are currently being published.
Over the next 3 years, this strategic investment will contribute to achieving partial, and, in many cases, full compliance with the environmental monitoring requirements of over a dozen legislative instruments, such as EU Directives, Decisions and Regulations in the areas of air, water, soil, noise and radiation.
The project is expected to be fully completed before July of 2013.
MEPA’s Chairman Austin Walker commented, "This is one of the most significant opportunities of funding in the area of environment, which MEPA is benefiting from. This project will upgrade the environment monitoring in the Maltese Islands."
The project is managed by MEPA in collaboration with the Malta Resources Authority, the Department of Environmental Health, the National Statistics Office and the University of Malta.