Understanding environment data ‘key to improving quality of life’ – minister

Environment minister Leo Brincat stressed on the importance of collecting environmental data that could help stakeholders understand better the state of the environment.

Brincat was addressing a conference on the development of environment monitoring, at the Palace Hotel in Sliema, as part of an ERDF project to improve national monitoring capacity of air, water, soil, noise, and radiation.

"Understanding the state of the environment with a scope to improving its quality, is a key component towards improving our own quality of life. It also enables decision-making for better and stronger environmental management," Brincat said.

Brincat said the project would give the public a better idea of the environment, and in turn help them appreciate the link between the environment and health. "A healthy, unpolluted environment resulting from appropriate environment management action, is supportive of a healthy human population."

The minister said a shared information system would make the data accessible to a wide range of users, something he said could benefit many players in society. "Environmental issues arise from different sources and players, which means that such data can be useful to different regulators. For instance, data on air quality can be useful not only to environmental agencies but also to the transport regulators, as well as the health authorities," he said.

Brincat said map servers on web portals would become the basis for the future development in the field of environmental management and access to environmental information. "Such a development will prove to be a significant advancement in safeguarding Malta's environment... a turning point towards improving our national capability."