The Office of the President is setting up a hub for ethnobotanical research.
President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca said the purpose of the hub would be to seek out ethnobotanical traditions in Malta and their use in ordinary life.
The hub will be coordinated by Mario Gerada.
Its mission is to explore and inspire relationships between people through their cultural experience of the natural world.
The main focus of the hub shall be the discovery of innovative and community-centred ways of enhancing well-being through the use of gardens and plants in Malta and Gozo.
The exploration of Maltese and Gozitan identities will be undertaken through formal and informal research on the cultural and ecological contexts of trees, vegetables, fruits, flowers and herbs.
The hub will also promote inter-cultural, inter-generational and inter-religious dialogue, with a focus on engaging diversity by bringing together local and migrant communities living in Malta to share and exchange botanical narratives, wisdom and practices.
Specific attention will be given to marginalised and minority groups.