An awareness campaign is being launched by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority as part of a number of initiatives it is carrying out this year, - the International Year of Biodiversity.

The campaign is aimed to increase the public’s awareness of biodiversity.

Introducing this initiative, Mepa chairman Austin Walker said that the small choices individuals made collectively added up to make a significant impact on the environment.

“By carefully choosing the products we buy, adopting more energy efficient habits, generating less waste and supporting government policies which promote biodiversity, we can all assist in having a more sustainable world,” he said.

EcoSystems unit manager Darren Stevens said that indigenous biodiversity in the Maltese Islands was facing similar threats as those faced by biodiversity throughout the EU, with the most significant threats coming from land development, the problem with invasive alien species and over-exploitation.

He said that over the past years, Mepa carried out a number of initiatives to tackle the growing problem of biodiversity loss.

More than 13 per cent of the land area in the Maltese islands formed part of the Natura 2000 network, which incorporated protected sites for habitats and species of European Community interest.

With this land now designated as protected areas, Mepa was finalising plans to ensure that these sites were managed in an effective and sustainable way through the involvement of local stakeholders, he said.

Mr Stevens explained that MEPA, through a number of funded projects, has been working at eradicating invasive alien species from sensitive areas such as St Paul’s Islands and Ramla l-Hamra.