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Friends of the Earth Malta would like to commend government for following up on the long promised Eco-Gozo plan. This should hopefully serve as a test case which would eventually lead to a similar plan being implemented on a national level.

However such a plan would not be comprehensive unless it undergoes a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA). As no mention to SEA is made in the press statement issued by the Ministry for Gozo, FoE Malta questions whether such a study has been made or is forthcoming.

If this were not the case, then it does not add up that Cabinet approves a plan that should have been subject to an SEA by the proponent in accordance to and compliance with L.N. 418/2005 in implementing the requirements of Directive 2001/42/EC.

Cabinet will thus be unaware of whether all the possible likely significant effects of implementing the plan have been examined. A SEA looks at a larger range of activities than an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and takes socio-economic effects into consideration besides the environmental ones.

A SEA can provide a broad indication of potential impacts that may arise whilst also giving weight to the consideration of alternatives and cumulative effects. Sustainable Development considerations are hence brought into the mechanism at an early stage through the execution of a Strategic Environmental Assessment.