Buenos Aires & Malta – Malta’s EU LIFE Yelkouan Shearwater project (1) was one of the topics selected for a presentation at the opening of BirdLife International’s World Conference that hosted over 500 delegates from more than 110 countries and territories around the world.
The conference, entitled “Taking on the Millennium Challenge” and held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, was also attended by the Princess of Japan who is the Honorary President of BirdLife International.
Representatives of important scientific and environmental institutions including the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Wetlands International, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and several universities as well as speakers from the Argentinean government joined the conference attended by BirdLife partners around the globe.
Speaking at the Sheraton Convention center in Buenos Aires, BirdLife Malta President Joseph Mangion said: “Nature conservation in Malta is gaining momentum and this conference is an excellent opportunity for us to share the ground breaking results that we have achieved in Malta through the EU LIFE Yelkouan Shearwater Project with a global audience. This is also an excellent opportunity for us to show the rest of the world what Malta has to offer in terms of eco-tourism.”
Project Partners Joseph Mangion gave a presentation at the morning session of the conference on the groundbreaking results of the electronic bird tagging work and the cooperation between fishermen and the project partnership.
EU LIFE Yelkouan Shearwater Project is the largest conservation initiative of its kind in Malta and is working to protect these secretive seabirds on land and at sea. Malta has around 10 per cent of the world’s population of Yelkouan Shearwaters, which makes this work is critical at an international level. This year, the project successfully obtained five tracks of adult birds to their feeding grounds, and also fitted solar powered satellite tags to chicks for the first time in the world, revealing a glimpse of the migration patterns of young birds.
BirdLife Malta also set up an information stand to promote the tourism value of Malta’s natural heritage at the fair held at the convention center, .
“The LIFE Yelkouan Shearwater Project is putting Malta on the international map for seabird research. We thank the Malta Tourism Authority for their support and cooperation which allowed us to present our conservation work on seabirds and promote the Maltese islands before such a unique global assembly” concluded Mr. Mangion.
Note:
1) EU LIFE Yelkouan Shearwater Project is a partnership iniative lead by BirdLife Malta of four government authorities (Heritage Malta, Malta Martime Authority, Malta Centre for Fisheries Sciences and the Armed Forces of Malta) and three conservation organisations (BirdLife Malta, BirdLife Portugal SPEA andBirdLife UK, RSPB). It is part funded by the EU and receives financial contributions from HSBC and MEPA. The LIFE Nature Programme provides funding to European Union countries to promote sustainable development and assist in developing positive management for key habitats and birds.
The photograph above shows BirdLife’s Honorary President, HIH Princess Takamado of Japan with a member of the Maltese delegation, Mr. Joe Sultana, who is co-founder of BirdLife International, ex-chairman of BirdLife International European Partnership and ex-president of BirdLife Malta.