During a two-day meeting held in Gozo on 13-14 March 2009, The Local Councils’ Association discussed how Malta and Gozo are being affected by climate change. The discussion focused on the actions which shall be proposed to mitigate the effects of this phenomenen.
The meeting was addressed by the Mayor of Naestved in Denmark, a special guest of the Committee of Regions. Mayor Henning Jenson was also the official rapporteur of the White Paper on Climate Change, which was presented by the European Commission earlier this month. Mr. Jenson delivered a detailed explanation of the Commitee of Regions’ proposals and how these can be beneficial to the Maltese Islands.
The Danish speaker also laid out the Covenant of Mayors, and invited all Mayors to endorse it. This agreement commits municipalities to go beyond the objectives set by the EU for 2020, reducing the CO2 emissions in their respective territories by at least 20%, through the implementation of a Sustainable Energy Action Plan for those areas of activity relevant to the Mayors’ mandates.
The Mayors agreed to join forces and work collectively to achieve positive results. As a first step towards the proposed Action Plan, all Mayors approved a resolution proposing the setting up of four committees, and their task would be to prepare an action plan to protect the environment. These will be subdivided into four sectors:
1) Governing Council (Ministry of Resources amd Rural Affairs/ Local Councils’ Association)
2) Finance Council (Cooperation with International Organisations)
3) Educational Council (Euromed-Impliment action program, amongst others)
4) Technical Council (Local and International experts)
Michael Cohen, the President of Local Councils’ Association, presented mid-term and long-term measures much useful to meet the environment obligations.
Finally, Parlamentary Secretary Dr. Chris Said praised the Mayor’s positive initiative and promised that the Government will keep on working hard to aid Local Councils to meet the commitments stipulated in the Covenant of Mayors.
