1. Background
A healthy environment is both our duty and our right, and it is each and everyone’s moral and legal obligation to contribute towards a sustainable future. Choosing the path and setting the pace for protecting and managing our environment from now till the next generation is critical for a future which includes our common goods. This is exactly what the National Strategy for the Environment (NSE) will strive to achieve. The NSE is a strategic governance document serving as an umbrella framework for environmental elements targeting all national plans, policies and programs. Through this Strategy, planning for our environment for approximately the next 30 years, to 2050, will be undertaken to set out the direction to follow to protect and improve the environment within a generation.
The first major step in the development of the NSE was the adoption of a Vision for 2050. This was developed following a thorough scenario building exercise, through which multiple scenarios were explored so as to support decision-making processes by means of an analytical framework for finding suitable and robust policy options.
The scenario analysis exercise resulted in the selection of a Wellbeing First Vision for 2050 where success is measured on what really matters for quality of life, and the environment is increasingly recognised as fundamental to the core of a system supporting overall wellbeing. Strategic alignment across government entities, to join up in contributing to good environmental governance, and looking beyond GDP as a measure of success, are recognised as critical to an improved quality of life that endorses environmental limits.
The methodology result resonated with the input the public had given ERA during the first consultation held on the intent for the NSE and its Vision for 2050. During the intent phase, respondents had highlighted the need for an agreed definition of what constitutes a good and sustainable quality of life to objectively measure the success of the strategy. Respondents had also pointed out the need to establish Malta’s environmental limits and the need for integrated governance across all relevant sectors. These factors have been acknowledged and integrated into the Wellbeing First Vision you are being consulted on at this stage, and which the NSE shall be aiming to achieve in its progress towards 2050.
2. Consultation Questions
- What, besides that which is already mentioned in the Vision document, would you equate with ‘Wellbeing’?
- What actions should the National Strategy for the Environment prioritise till 2050 to see Malta achieve a Wellbeing Vision that propels us to measure progress ‘beyond GDP’?
- Who do you envisage is an essential stakeholder to contribute to achieving this Wellbeing 2050 Vision?
Can you suggest ways in which you can make a difference, or aspects which will positively influence your behaviour to support achieving this Wellbeing Vision for 2050?
4. Submission of input
Submissions were sent in through the following channels:
Submissions were received by 20 September 2020.
We thank you for your input.