A new and innovative Geoportal Information System (www.seismalta.org.mt) with the latest ongoing environmental data has been launched by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority (MEPA).

The Authority said that its aim is to facilitate and empower citizens, businesses, academia and NGOs to take conscious decisions and instigate change when equipped with credible, regular and timely information about the state of the environment.

This information system which presents highly complex data in an easy to understand mode will also provide policymakers with better access to high-quality thematic information about the environment.

As a result, policies can be amended or created for the purpose of improving the quality of the environment and to reduce impacts on it, while safeguarding human health.

Project Consultant Dr Saviour Formosa said, “what is so innovative about this Shared Environmental Information System is that highly diverse and disparate domains were successfully integrated into a single interactive project.”

He added that “the project delivered more than just data or hardware, it delivered the embryo of a new cultural dynamic: data sharing in an innovative way for the common good. It delivered a scope for collaborative analysis that spans multi-thematic realities.”

The development of the Geoportal was the final component of a large EU funded project on environmental monitoring. The project which was entitled ‘Developing national environmental infrastructure and capacity,’ focused on radically improving the national environmental monitoring capacity in six environmental themes – air, water, radiation, noise, soil and marine.

The project’s output resulted in the procurement of equipment, information management systems, environmental baseline surveys, training of staff, and the enhancement of the national monitoring programmes in these mentioned environmental themes.

The project was led by MEPA and also involved the University of Malta, National Statistics Office (NSO), Directorate for Environmental Health and the Malta Resources Authority (MRA).

The SEIS-MALTA Geoportal was launched at a press conference which was organised on the eve of World Environment Day.

The theme ‘Raise your voice not the sea level’ chosen for this year by the United Nations’ serves to encourage a greater understanding of the importance and urgency to help protect these islands states in the face of growing risks and vulnerabilities, particularly as a result of climate change.

A publication entitled: ‘Future Preparedness – Thematic & Spatial Issues for the Environment & Sustainability,’ published by the University of Malta and MEPA and edited by Dr Saviour Formosa was also launched.

Emanating from a collaborative exercise between 28 experts in the scientific and operational field, the publication seeks to outline the major challenges society is facing as it passes through diverse and contrasting social realities and the interactions between the environment, human capital and land use.

The publication which is split into three sections guides the reader through a ‘journey’ of trying to understand the environmental challenges that may come to pass tomorrow when one knows the present and how it is affected by our yesterday.

Permalink: MEPA launches its new online Geoportal Information System