Sustainable Development and the Environment
What the domain tests
Sustainable development asks you to reconcile environmental limits, economic needs and social equity, including for future generations. The exam tests trade-off reasoning, not slogans.
Core rules and concepts
- The Brundtland Report (1987) defined sustainable development as meeting present needs without compromising future generations' ability to meet theirs. It has environmental, economic and social pillars.
- Intergenerational and intragenerational equity are central. The UN SDGs (2015, 17 goals to 2030) provide a shared framework.
- Tools include environmental impact assessment (EIA), the mitigation hierarchy (avoid, minimise, restore, offset), life-cycle thinking and stakeholder participation.
- Malta-specific pressures: water scarcity (reverse osmosis is energy-intensive), waste and construction, land take, traffic, energy dependence and coastal biodiversity such as Posidonia oceanica seagrass meadows and Natura 2000 sites.
Worked example. A new marina is proposed over a seagrass meadow. Reasoning: identify ecosystem services (nursery habitat, coastal protection, carbon storage), assess alternatives and siting, require an EIA, apply the mitigation hierarchy, and compare short-term construction jobs with long-term losses. Compensation is not a free pass if damage is irreversible. A defensible judgement states the trade-off and the conditions for approval.
Traps that cost marks
- Reducing sustainability to recycling.
- Ignoring trade-offs or pretending a project has only benefits.
- Treating green labels as proof (greenwashing).
- Discounting future generations or displaced impacts.