Environment
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Malta’s maritime resources
The organisation of the sixth European Maritime Day (EMD) in Malta last week drew some welcome limelight on Malta’s maritime credentials, which are so often discarded, despite the archipelago’s firmly anchored maritime ethos. For instance, Malta’s...
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Don’t let bedbugs bite you
The Common Bedbug (Cimex Lectularius) is a small, flat insect that grows to about four or five millimetres and is shaped like an apple seed. It is brown but turns red after feeding. It has piercing sucking mouth parts and feeds on human blood. As...
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Unacceptable danger to bees
European experts have warned of the risks to honeybees from a fourth pesticide, after moves to ban three other chemicals. The insecticide fipronil poses a “high acute risk” to honeybees from pesticide dust when it was used to treat maise seeds, a...
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Cathedral spiders
Cathedral spiders build large complicated webs in trees and bushes. This species of spider is very common in the Maltese countryside and the webs are so large that they are difficult to miss once you know about it. In the Maltese islands, as in...
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Aquifer recharge potential
Mediterranean islands are looking at ways of better managing their freshwater resource. Most islands have specific conditions that are different from the continent and are generally marked by water scarcity, while much effort has to go into...
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Scientists offer tips to policymakers on how to protect Europe’s seas
Must we take action against marine degradation? Is marine protection really a good social investment? Shall we invest in marine protected areas? Policymakers want to protect Europe’s seas, but they also need to factor in the economic aspects of...
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Crystals in the sun
The crystal plant, also known as ice plant, is a rare, indigenous plant that grows along the coast in sandy or gravely habitats. It is called so because the entire plant is covered in crystalline bladders which shine in the sun. It is native to...
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Warming extremes ‘not as likely’
Extreme global warming is less likely in coming decades after a slowdown in the pace of temperature rises so far this century, an international team of scientists said. Warming is still on track, however, to breach a goal set by governments around...
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Revisiting the Tal-Marga saga
Karkanja Ltd director Euchar Vella, who applied for a planning permit to build three (originally five) properties at Tal-Marga in Qala, tried (The Sunday Times of Malta, April 28) to discredit Anne Zammit’s earlier article (April 14) on the same...
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Climate change forecast to shrink habitat of common plants, animals
The habitats of many common plants and animals will shrink dramatically this century unless governments act quickly to cut rising greenhouse gas emissions, scientists said last Sunday after studying 50,000 species around the world. The scientists...
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Ice melt not so dramatic
A melt of ice on Greenland and Antarctica is likely to be less severe than expected this century, limiting sea level rise to a maximum of 69cm, an international study said. Even so, such a rise could dramatically change coastal environments in the...
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The common blue
The common blue is a small butterfly which can be seen from late winter to early autumn but mostly in early summer. It is found in most of Europe, parts of Asia, North Africa and in the Canary Islands. It was recently introduced in eastern...
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Natural world under threat
The habitats of many common plants and animals will shrink dramatically this century unless governments act quickly to cut rising greenhouse gas emissions, scientists said after studying 50,000 species around the world. The scientists from Britain,...
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Natura 2000 connections
Managing an area which is home to wildlife while protecting natural habitats takes some dedication. As we have seen, it is not enough to declare an area protected without having the right structures in place to ensure that this will happen. A recent...
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Cockroach control and eradication treatment
Cockroaches are scavengers. They spend their lifetime foraging for food and water and will happily set up home anywhere that gives them easy access. Cockroaches love eating fermenting organic material. Rotting garbage and faecal matter, both human...
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A rose that loves the sun
The Mediterranean sun rose is an indigenous yellow-flowered plant that is at its best in April and early May. In Maltese it is known as ċistu isfar and it grows in garrigue, the rocky arid habitat common in some parts of Malta. It shares this...
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Not exactly Malta tagħna lkoll
Despite adopting one of the main mantras bandied around during the last election as the heading of this column, a proviso is in order – this is not being done for partisan purposes. It is motivated by recent events at two of Malta’s most idyllic...
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Environmentalist at coastal symposium
Alan Deidun, senior lecturer at the International Ocean Institute – Malta Operational Centre (IOI-MOC), was among 500 delegates attending the 13th International Coastal Symposium in Plymouth, UK, to present the outcome of two separate scientific...
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Solar station
A general view of the solar power station Halle Pajol during its inauguration in northern Paris last month. The huge rehabilitated Halle Pajol is the first solar power station in Paris with 3,500m² of solar panels on its roof and the largest...
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Every bird shot is one nest less
This year’s bird hunting season closed yesterday and not a day too soon; it should not have been opened in the first place. For some years we had become used to the idea of seeing migrating birds reaching our shores and being able to continue their...
