The Malta Sociological Association has submitted the following feedback with regard to this public consultation:
The Malta Sociological Association welcomes the public consultation on the process of updating Malta's National Air Pollution Control Programme (NAPCP). To this end, MSA recommends that this process employs a social impact assessment in an ongoing process.
The International Principles for Social Impact Assessment defines SIA as being “the processes of analysing, monitoring and managing the intended and unintended social consequences, both positive and negative, of planned interventions (policies, programs, plans, projects) and any social change processes invoked by those interventions”.An SIA is an interdisciplinary process, and should employ various methods, both quantitative and qualitative. Social impact assessments should not be one-off exercises: To the contrary, they should be ongoing processes which engage with various stakeholders and which report back so as to ensure effective policy processes.
