Malta among worst performers in biodiversity protection league
Malta is one of the top three EU member states failing to enforce biodiversity legislation, according to a new report by BirdLife International.
The report, entitled ‘2010-Turning or Breaking Point for Europe’s Wildlife?’, analyses the progresses towards the 2010 biodiversity target against 10 major groups of indicators.
Malta’s performance was only adequate in the transposition of international legislation into national law, but the country failed to reach adequate standards when it came to implementation and enforcement.
In 11 categories out of 18, Malta’s performance was evaluated as ‘highly insufficient’. These included the status of species and habitats of EC importance, enforcement of biodiversity legislation, management plans and conservation status of protected areas and public awareness.
In six categories, Malta’s performance was deemed ‘inadequate’. These include the status of birds, biodiversity research and monitoring and environmental governance.
“Lack of effective law enforcement remains a major issue, with widespread illegal hunting activities taking their toll on both resident and migratory avifauna,” said Joseph Mangion, president of BirdLife Malta.
“Furthermore, the institution seems slow in setting in motion an effective holistic strategy to improve the state of biodiversity in our islands”
The report summarises the main findings of national level assessments made by BirdLife International Partner organisations in late 2009 in all 27 Member States of the European Union.
The findings are in line with the most recent State of the Environment Report published by MEPA, which states that 64% of habitats and 44% of species listed in the Habitats Directive have an inadequate or bad conservation status, while the status of 29% of Maltese habitats and 36% of Maltese species is still unknown.
The status of national biodiversity in the BirdLife International report shows that insufficient attention is paid to the Convention on Biological Diversity at a national level.
BirdLife International denounced the EU’s failure to reach its target of halting biodiversity loss by 2010 and listed the necessary steps needed to stop the loss of biodiversity and to enhance its recovery in the EU.
Ariel Brunner, Head of EU Policy at BirdLife International European Division, said: “The EU has failed to achieve the 2010 target and is still a long way off from preventing further loss of wildlife and habitats. The picture emerging from our assessment is one of continuing impoverishment of biodiversity and inadequate responses.”
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