Plant and pond life on the coastline of Malta forms part of the northwest section of a Natura 2000 corridor running parallel with cliffs and boulder screes from Ċirkewwa to Marsaxlokk.

Who would have thought that an un­remarkable scrubland plant growing on the Pembroke coastline could be of value on a European scale?

An isolated population of thorns which produce inconspicuous flowers, and edible although not very tasty fruit, has claimed its rightful place on the Natura 2000 map. Not a common species in the Mediterranean, the closest population to the small patch growing in Malta is found in southeastern Sicily.

A flexible plant with thorns growing up to 10cm, the Spiny Burnet (tursin il-għul xewwieki) might debatedly have been the same species used to weave Christ’s crown of thorns, so apparent in religious imagery on Good Friday.

Then again, growing as it does in Middle Eastern garrigues (known as phyrgana in Greece, batha in Israel) it is more likely to have been styled into a broom for sweeping animal stalls clean in times gone by.

A living and changing landscape, such as the one we inhabit, requires careful management to ensure human activities do not cause damaging changes to protected habitats and the species they live there.

Two years ago a consortium was tasked with drawing up management plans for 34 different areas in the Maltese islands that have a marked level of biodiversity particular to the region. These habitats are home to wild plants and animals, some of them very rare, which are unlikely to survive in the natural world unless the area where they live is protected. Some of them were already protected by law but they lacked management plans.

Natura 2000 areas are part of a network throughout every EU member state to ensure the most valuable and threatened species in Europe survive for future generations. The network aims to protect over 700 threatened species listed in the Habitats Directive across more than 26,000 sites covering around 20 per cent of EU territory.

ADI Associates Environmental Consultants Ltd and Epsilon International SA teamed up after an international call for tenders. The two consultancies were awarded a joint €1.5 million contract, supported by the EU and European Regional Development Fund, to prepare a legislative framework and management plans for all Natura 2000 areas in Malta. The management planning phase was partly funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development.

The client was the Malta Environment and Planning Authority, which has been obliged to draw up and implement conservation measures ever since a legal requirement transposed from the EU habitats directive to prepare such measures for protected sites came into force. This included drawing up plans, both management and legislative, through site visits, sampling, mapping, analysis of ecosystems and conservation objectives and compiling a national database. The outcome offered a well-informed vision on how each site could be managed.

A plan is only as efficient as people make it

Over the past year consultation meetings were held in localities near the protected sites. Exhibitions, stakeholder and public meetings were held to collect people’s views on the draft plans for managing the sites. Involving everyone from conservation experts to landowners, residents, businesses, local councils, community and environmental groups in the management planning process was important to en­sure the plans were appropriate to each site and so have a better chance to be successfully implemented.

After making vision statements and proposals for the management plans for each area available on the Natura 2000 website, a summary of the conclusions reached in the plans are once again up for public consultation. The complete management plans will be published by Mepa in the coming months following formal approval.

Revisiting Pembroke, an easily accessible site on the urban fringe, part of the vision is for the nature site to serve residents and visitors as a focus for education, demonstration, research and nature enjoyment. Securing legal protection, maintaining, and in some cases, increasing habitats, is a core target.

A lesser known habitat lies in the deeper recesses of Għar Dalam caves, beneath the main road leading down to Birżebbuġa, in an area of the cave closed to the public.

Għar tal-Iburdan in western Malta, home to three species of bats foraging on surrounding farmland, presents an interesting challenge. The aims here include integrating a nature conservation approach into the restoration strategy of an encroaching quarry while ensuring that agriculture does not develop at the expense of the Annex 1 habitat.

Other sites, some familiar and some less well known, are scattered across the Maltese islands, and include cliffs, scrub, dunes, temporary ponds, forest remnants and other types of terrain. Often the terminology in the consultation documents is alien to the public, citing scientific names rather than the more recognisable local names. For example, the freshwater seasonal stream at Ramla Bay is referred to as a “riparian” habitat – a term more familiar to a trained biologist or ecologist than the average person.

Activities in Natura 2000 areas should be sustainable. Organic farming and eco-tourism are perhaps best suited, when adequately managed. Hunting is not prohibited in Natura 2000 sites as long as it is legal and sustainable.

A plan is only as efficient as people make it, and while there have been success stories, the European network has come under fire for creating “paper parks” in some countries where there is poor management. It is hoped Malta’s Natura 2000 network will not go the way of some unfortunate examples in Portugal and Sicily where, despite formal protection, things have not always gone as planned.

At a site in southwest Portugal, valuable temporary pond habitats were lost to agricultural intensification. Amphibians that had lived in and around the ponds could no longer survive when their habitat changed into artificial water bodies such as irrigation drains.

A professor of plant ecology at the University of Palermo noted last year that despite the temporary ponds in Sicily being listed as priority habitats they look like mere land depressions during the dry phase. Since monitoring and on-site information is lacking they end up as dumpsites or car parks, especially when close to the sea shore.

“The disappearance of these ecosystems makes them more isolated, diminishing their connectivity and hampering dispersal/colonisation – events that contribute to maintaining biodiversity,” said Prof. Luigi Naselli-Flores.

A similar case in point is the local example of Għadira is-Safra on the Coast Road, posing concerns over how ongoing Trans-European transport network operations in the area may be integrated into a conservation strategy for that site.

A EuMon project study looking into how well Natura 2000 protects the most vulnerable species found that better co-ordination between network countries, together with strategic conservation planning could help to make it work better.

www.natura2000malta.com

www.eumon.ckff.si