Plant Conservation in Malta

Number of Nationally Threatened Species

Plant Group	X	E	V	R	I	Total Threatened
Ferns and fern allies	4	2	0	1	0	7
Gymnosperms	2	1	0	0	0	3
Flowering plants	103	71	44	136	34	388
Totals	109	74	44	137	34	398

X = Extinct, E=Endangered, V=Vulnerable, R=Rare, I=Indeterminate
National Red Data Books

National Red Data Books

The Flora, by E. Lanfranco. In: Red Data Book for the Maltese Islands. P.J. Schembri & J. Sultana (Eds), 1989. Dept of Information, Malta. Pp. 5-70.

For more recent data on numbers of threatened plants, see State of the Environment Report for Malta 1998: Living Resources, Fisheries and Agriculture. P.J. Schembri et al. Unpublished report prepared as part of the State of the Environment Report for Malta 1998. Malta Council for Science and Technology, 158 pp.

Vegetation

Little natural vegetation due to agriculture, building construction and tourism. Most remaining vegetation is semi-natural and confined to inaccessible coastal cliffs, e.g. fragments of garique and maquis with remnants of Holm Oak (Quercus ilex) woodland, now reduced to a few individuals. Inland, on the jagged coralline limestone plateau in north and west, there is a thin scattered scrub of garique, with occasional trees in the valleys. Elsewhere garique is the dominant vegetation cover with Euphorbia, Teucrium and Thymus species. Little maquis remains. (Paragraph reproduced with permission from Davis, S.D. et al. (1986). Plants in Danger: What do we know? IUCN, Gland, Switzerland).

Plant Conservation Programmes

Species Action Plan for the Maltese Islands. In the preliminary phases. Contact: Environment Officer Biodiversity, Biodiversity and Protected Species Section, Environment Protection Department.

Biodiversity Monitoring Programme, in which sites and species of interest are monitored and conservation action taken as needed. Contact: as above.

Biodiversity Record Sheets Programme. The Environment Protection Dept produces sheets reporting and verifying new sightings or localities for rare, threatened, endemic and/or other important species of flora and fauna, providing a link between amateurs and specialists. Contact: as above.

National Database on Biodiversity, created by the Malta Council of Science and Technology in conjunction with the University of Malta. Contact: Dept of Botany, University of Malta.

Ex situ conservation of genetic stock. Carried out by various governmental and non-governmental institutions. In particular, the Environment Protection Dept has a nursery to propagate plants for restoration and reintroduction programmes, including in protected areas. The University Botanic Gardens and the Nature Trust (Malta) also propagate plants for conservation purposes.

Micropropagation of endangered species. Carried out by the Micropropagation Centre of the Dept of Agriculture, in collaboration with the Environment Protection Dept and the University of Malta with partial funding by MEDPAN.

Various other research studies are being made on the biology and analysis of individual plants and plant localities.

Key Institutions

Environment Protection Department, Ministry of the Environment, Floriana, CMR 02.

Department of Agriculture, Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Barriera Wharf, Valletta CMR 02 (has a nursery used for propagation of trees for afforestation and amenity).

Agricultural Research and Development Centre, Ministry for Rural Affairs and the Environment, Ghammieri, Marsa CMR 02. (responsible for conservation of cultivated plants.)

Micropropagation Centre, Department of Agriculture, Annibale Preca Street, Lija BZN 04.

Department of Biology, University of Malta, Msida MSD 06.

Nature Trust Malta, PO Box 9, Valletta CMR 01.

Argotti Herbarium and University Botanic Gardens, University of Malta, Msida.

Acknowledgement

Based on material prepared by Hugh Synge for the Council of Europe, 1999-2000, based on information provided by Darrin T. Stevens, Environment Office Biodiversity, Malta. Updated October 2005.