World Environment Day is celebrated on 5 June. This year’s theme, ‘Many species, One Planet, One Future’, is linked to the International Year of Biodiversity declared by the United Nations under the Convention on Biological Diversity. To mark this event, the National Statistics Office is issuing a set of statistics on biodiversity in Malta based on an assessment carried out by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority, as part of a report to the European Commission.

Considering the relatively small land area, the limited number of habitat types, and the high population density, Malta and Gozo support a rich variety of flora and fauna.

Species include animals and plants, and fall into three categories – Flora, Terrestrial Fauna and Marine Fauna. Data shows that the local environment is characterised by habitats that support many more land plant species than marine plant species. As at the end of 2008 there were 13 terrestrial plant species listed under this Directive, against two marine plant species.

Article 2 of the Directive is designed to maintain or restore the conservation of natural habitats, wild fauna and flora. Measures take into account various parameters. These include the surface area of the habitat as well as its structure and functions. In respect of species, size of population, age structure, mortality and reproduction feature in the criteria.

While the percentage rate for habitats at favourable conservation status in Malta is less than that of the EU overall, the percentage values for species is higher for Malta. The percentage of unfavourable habitats and species for Malta is less than the EU average in both cases.

Towards the end of 2008, 64 per cent of the natural habitat was classified with an unfavourable status and 7 per cent with a favourable one. With regard to species 44 per cent were classified as having an unfavourable conservation status, while 20 per cent were ranked as having a favourable one.

Biodiversity may be defined as the variation of life forms within a given ecosystem. It is often used as a measure of the health of biological systems. The biodiversity found on Earth today consists of many millions of distinct biological species.

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