Italy donates 1,100 trees for afforestation project
Rural Affairs Minister George Pullicino and Italian Ambassador Paolo Andrea Trabalza (first and second from left) at the Biotechnology Centre in Lija.
Italy has donated 1,100 trees to Malta that will be planted at the Foresta 2000 park in Mellieħa.
The trees were presented to the Minister of Resources and Rural Affairs, George Pullicino by the Italian Ambassador to Malta, Paolo Andrea Trabalza during a ceremony at the Biotechnology Centre in Lija.
A spokesman for the Italian Embassy noted that an afforestation programme between Italy and Malta had started in 2004 and in the first two years of the programme the Italian government donated 8,000 indigenous trees and shrubs to be planted as part of the Foresta 2000 project, an initiative of the Ministry of Resources and Rural Affairs.
The project aims at developing the forest cover of the Maltese islands, to reintroduce, where possible, the native vegetation typical of the Mediterranean environment and to protect soil from water and wind erosion.
Italy has also offered the use of the highly-developed nursery systems of its Corpo Forestale dello Stato, whereby seeds from Maltese endemic trees were sent for propagation and planting in Malta, thus ensuring the conservation of the local genetic pool.
Moreover, training courses for Maltese technical officers and supervisors were held in Italy.
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Joe Galea
Dec 19th 2008, 08:31
These trees should be planted elsewhere since Agostino Pio decided to blunder again by destroying this natural park, wanting to pass a road through it, destroying trees and natural habitat because he saw (with his bionic eyes) sand diminishing from Ghadira Bay.
Made in GonziGattPN land!!!!
Joseph Calleja
Dec 18th 2008, 20:18
Are these trees going to be planted before or after the Ghadira Road goes through the Foresta 2000 ?
Alfred Grech
Dec 18th 2008, 18:53
It was a nice gesture by the Italian Government and it's a blessing to us to have more trees on our islands and hope our Government will keep planting more trees not only in Foresta 2000 but also in parks and streets around the islands.
charles zammit
Dec 18th 2008, 17:10
foresta 2000 my foot. don't the italian embassy follow the Maltese news, or are they belatedly making it good for what happened months ago when vandals uprooted or destroyed thousands of small trees, or maybe they are taking foresight measures to make good when another rape will take place at ghadira in the very near future. i wish to believe that it is the first option that our learned gentlemen da oltre mare have in mind, at least malta will be better off by these 1100 trees............
Mario Tabone-Vassallo
Dec 18th 2008, 16:19
Thank you again to Italy, who apart from hundreds of millions in direct aid has also given many scolarships and keeps the most active cultural centre on the Islands. I wonder if the article meant indigenous rather than endemic ones as the only endemic [occuring naturally only in Malta] ones I can think of are shrubs. It may be that they are sgajjar, shrubs. Some are so depleted in nature that multiplication bi micropropagation is often necessary to ensure their re-establishment. Certainly better than the non native, cheap trees a bank keeps giving and gets lots of publicity from. They should not be planted here.
Alfred E Baldacchino
Dec 18th 2008, 14:48
What endemic trees!!!! Have the Maltese now been declared incapable of sowing seeds from their native indigenous trees, something they have been doing since time immemorial.! And when these so called 'endemic trees' seeds' are propagated in Italy and eventually imported in Malta, who will shoulder the responsibility for any introduced species they can bring? As if the Red Palm Weevil is not enough! If the local authorities do not know the difference between 'endemic' and 'indigenous' how on earth can they confirm that the imported trees are from local seeds and not otherwise? Politicians never learn. It is always the people who have to foot the bill for their blunders.
eugenio taliana
Dec 18th 2008, 13:19
George Pullicino plants the trees and Austin Gatt uproots them. Wonderful game!
albert attard
Dec 18th 2008, 11:57
I think it’s the lentisk (deru) tree its ideal for the area but would grow more as bushes in that type of terrain - however the deru is native to Malta and helps to protect from soil errosion.
Edward Farrugia
Dec 18th 2008, 10:32
Great, just in time to pot them in the central strip of the new Ghadira road :-)
D Vella
Dec 18th 2008, 10:29
What sort of trees are we talking about here??