Malta, a small self-governing parliamentary democracy has contiguous biophysical and political boundaries, characterising the notion of a bioregion, where the small-is-beautiful claim is expected to hold true. However, it is unexplainable how the country's development of integrated environmental management (IEM) capacity left specific environmental problems unchecked for decades, and kept the nation lagging behind in environmental policy. Three case studies - land-use, waste management and bird protection focus on policy responses typical of three important dimensions to sustainability...