Malta plans to designate 30% of its land as biodiversity reserves by 2030
Valletta, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- Malta's Ministry of Environment, Energy and Grand Harbour Regeneration on Monday released a new National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan, which aims to designate 30 percent of the country's land as biological reserves by 2030.
The plan sets 22 targets that Malta needs to achieve in terms of biodiversity conservation by 2030, and draws up 79 specific actions. These measures cover areas such as restoring ecosystems, protecting genetic diversity, combating climate change and promoting sustainable agriculture. They are designed to provide strategic guidance for biodiversity management and conservation and are an important tool for Malta to implement the UN Convention on Biological Diversity.
Under the plan, Malta will effectively prevent, control and reduce pollution from all sources, including excess nutrients, pesticides, chemicals, plastics, noise and light pollution, to levels that do not pose a threat to biodiversity by 2030, in line with EU and international commitments.
The plan also proposes to prevent the entry of new invasive species by 2030 through the management of key invasion pathways, and to identify invasive alien species already established in Malta for control or elimination in a priority order. By 2030, 50 per cent of invasive alien species causing harm to protected areas will be properly managed.
In a statement released on the same day, Malta's Ministry of Environment, Energy and Grand Harbour Regeneration noted that the above targets set by Malta are in line with global and EU biodiversity conservation targets. Malta adopted its first National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan in 2012, which is valid until 2020.