Efforts by the Environment and Resources Authority continued unabated despite “financial and other constraints”, its chairman, Victor Axiak, said in an annual report.
The ERA was set up in 2016 after the planning and environment functions that used to be carried out by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority were split up. It is now the government entity on the frontline of protecting Malta’s environment.
Contacted by the Times of Malta to elaborate about the constraints he mentioned, Prof. Axiak said the ERA faced challenges as part of its growing up process as a new regulator. These included budgetary constraints and human resources and, during the first three years, the watchdog went through a “phenomenal” recruitment process, the chairman said.
Such fast recruitment, he said, evidently led to challenges such as how staff would mature on the job and come to grips with the often complex environmental issues. As a new regulator, the ERA had to earn the respect of other entities, specific sectors of the community and the public, Prof. Axiak remarked.
The annual report delves into the findings of the 2018 state of the environment report and acknowledges the pressures being…
