As part of BirdLife International’s Europe wide campaign targeting candidates for the European Parliament, BirdLife Malta has sent letters and the BirdLife Manifesto laying out an environmental vision for the following 5 years to Maltese MEP hopefuls, urging them to work towards strengthening and building on existing EU conservation policies.

“EU conservation policies like the Birds and Habitats Directives have already been of benefit to the Maltese environment. We expect the Maltese MEPs to work towards strengthening these important EU legislations and not attempt to sabotage them as we have seen in the past,” said Geoffrey Saliba, BirdLife Malta Campaigns Coordinator.

BirdLife urged the MEP candidates to also work towards strengthening the Natura 2000 network of protected areas throughout Europe and extend the network to include marine protected areas that are rich in marine wildlife.

One of the other key areas the conservation organization expects MEPs to work towards is climate change. BirdLife stated that while it supported the EU target for 20% of energy to be generated through renewable sources by 2020, these investments should be done in line with the nature conservation policies and not cause biodiversity loss.

“For the new European Parliament to overcome the current environmental and economic crisis, the EU citizens need representatives who share a new vision to work towards a greater sustainability and resource efficiency.” concluded Saliba.

BirdLife Malta encouraged members of the public to contact the MEP candidates and demand that they prioritize the environment on their agenda.

The BirdLife MEP Manifesto and a list of candidate MEP contact details can be viewed on the BirdLife Malta website – www.birdlifemalta.org.

Permalink: BirdLife calls on Maltese MEPs to fight for the environment