The project website will serve to promote the project and provide information on its implementation, results achieved, and events related to the project. The website will be regularly updated and maintained until five years from the end of the project.
Updates
Project website launched on 18th July 2014
Information and knowledge exchange between key stakeholders through the organisation of 4 stakeholder seminars and a 4 day conference on Mediterranean Marine Protected Areas.
During the seminars, key stakeholders (such as fishing and diving communities, the Armed Forces of Malta, local NGOs, Transport Malta, and Tourism industry representatives) will be invited to discuss the project, share experiences, identification of data sources and discussion on the designation and conservation processes.
The 4-day conference will introduce the project aims, partners and results achieved, and its aim will be the sharing of experiences between different actors of marine protected areas.
Updates
First stakeholder seminar – 8 May 2014
Second stakeholder seminar – 30 November 2015
Third stakeholder seminar – 4 July 2017
Conference on Marine Protected Areas held on 11 – 14 September 2017
Fourth stakeholder seminar – 21 November 2017
Report – Summary of stakeholder participation
Information activities for the general public, including a street photographic exhibition set up in 6 different localities, spread over two summers, as well as the production and dissemination of a note calendar and information sheets.
Updates
Press event – 2015 photographic exhibition
2015 photographic exhibition – event photos
2016 photographic exhibition – event photos
Info-sheets
Additional exhibitions were set up in 2017/2018: two during the first half of 2017, and an exhibition in 2018 which featured prints from the project’s coastal and deep-sea surveys.
Awareness raising campaign targeting the general public and stakeholders, with the aim to raise awareness on Malta’s marine environment specifically Sites of Community Importance (SCIs) and the Natura 2000 Network.
The campaign will provide information on local marine habitats and their importance and the purpose of marine SCIs and the significance of protection through project stationary, press releases and articles, TV communications and social media.
Updates
Press Releases
Info-slots
Facebook Page
YouTube channel
Official project launch to present the project and its objectives, helping to stir up interest in the project, drawing attention to the objectives of the project, its aims and actions, and encouraging the public and other interested parties to participate.
The aim of this action is to involve the impacted stakeholders in order to adopt a participatory approach to the implementation and management of the newly designated marine proposed Sites of Community Importance (pSCIs). By involving stakeholders and discussing conflicts, the process of managing the designated sites following the project end date will be facilitated. This is sought to be achieved by identifying alternative practices, and where applicable alternative livelihoods. It is foreseen that the main target audience of this action will be stakeholders involved in the fishing industry, tourism, shipping activities and diving.
This action will be supported through action E4 which will focus on the participation of stakeholders throughout the actions dealing with data gathering, identification and designation of pSCIs and the identification of conservation objectives. While action E4 will be more focused on raising awareness about the project, dissemination of information and transfer of knowledge between different stakeholders, action A8 will be focused on the socio-economic impact of designation and hence identifying alternative practices and possibly livelihoods for stakeholders affected by the designated sites.
A livelihood analysis will also be carried out and an activity report documenting this analysis and recommendations on alternative livelihoods will be produced. The action will also aim at creating a guidance document containing guidelines and recommendations of best practice and alternative livelihood options.
Updates
Interviews with stakeholders were held in Q1 2018
Poster with examples of best practice – English version and Maltese version
This action involves the formulation of conservation objectives that need to be achieved for each of the proposed Sites of Community Importance (pSCIs) and will take place in parallel with action A6. Conservation objectives are short descriptive statements setting out future target conditions that need to be achieved usually over a five year period for a particular feature or group of features (habitats, species, communities etc). Eventually conservation measures are then set up, however these are not within the scope of the project and will be set after the end of the project.
Conservation objectives will be set for habitats listed in Annex I of the Habitats Directive, including their typical species and communities which contribute to their conservation status. Each of the objectives needs to be achievable and have measurable attributes, which may either be quantitative (e.g. size of population of a particular species) or qualitative (e.g. species composition of a habitat) and are required in order to be used as indicators to assess the success of management of the habitat. Once attributes are identified, site-specific target values will be assigned, reflecting the favourable conservation status of the features. After the targets are established methods of monitoring these targets will be determined.
Stakeholders will be invited to participate in the discussion on setting conservation objectives (through action E4), while action A8 will run in parallel to identify socio-economic impacts of the pSCIs on identified stakeholders and then to identify alternative livelihoods and activities for the impacted stakeholders.
Update
Conservation Objectives for MPAs designated for Habitats
This action involves the designation of Natura 2000 sites. The proposed designation of the identified sites, together with appropriate justification, is put forward for approval by the Cabinet of Ministers through the Ministry responsible for the environment in line with Malta’s obligations and jurisdiction.
Once sites are designated by the Maltese Government, the list of proposed Sites of Community Importance (pSCIs) shall be transmitted to the European Commission for the process of adopting as SCIs.
Updates
The Standard Data Forms for the new and extended sites were uploaded on the EIONET Central Data Repository on 1st June 2018.
The sites were declared on the 5th June 2018, and the Government Notice (G.N. 682 of 2018) listing the sites as Special Areas of Conservation in accordance with the Flora, Fauna and Natural Habitats Protection Regulations, 2006 (S.L.549.99) was published the same day.
This action involves the identification of marine Sites of Community Importance, and will require 3 distinct processes:
1. Meetings and working groups to identify overlaps in data collection and common areas for designation between the LIFE BaĦAR Project and the LIFE+ Malta Seabird and LIFE+ Migrate projects.
2. Elaboration of a list of proposed of Community Interest in accordance with Annex III of the Habitats Directive and delivery to Government for designation.
3. Filling of Standard Data Forms.
The relative importance of sites for each natural habitat type in Annex I of the Habitats Directive is first assessed at national level by considering a number of criteria, such as the area of the site covered by the natural habitat type in relation to the total area covered by that natural habitat type within national territory, the degree of representativity on the site and the degree of conservation. The sites are then classified and proposed on the national list as sites eligible for identification as sites of Community importance according to their relative value for the conservation of each natural habitat type in Annex I or each species in Annex II of the Habitats Directive.
Following the assessment at national level, the sites included in the national list will be assessed in terms of Community importance and once the sites have been identified, a Standard Data Form will be developed for each site.
Following identification of the proposed sites, these will be presented to ERA Board for its approval, and subsequently presented to the Ministry responsible for the Environment for endorsement.
Updates
The Standard Data Forms for all the sites are available on EIONET Central Data Repository
This action involves the development and maintenance of a Geographic Information System (GIS), which will contain multiple layers of relevant data and will allow for the identification of areas to be surveyed, the input of new data, and querying and production of habitat maps (broad, medium and fine scale). The implementation of the GIS will be carried out by the partners throughout the whole project and will feed into different actions. The following will be the key stages of this action:
• Development of GIS
• First data input, conversion and overlay of data
• Production of broad resolution habitat map
• Input of new data following the first survey
• Production of medium/fine scale maps
• Priority areas map delivery
• Marine SCI Habitat Maps
• Map for Designation
Updates
Data viewer is available online
Project metadata is available here
