BirdLife Malta

For other uses, see Birdlife (disambiguation).

BirdLife Malta is Malta's biggest environmental movement. The organisation's stated aim is to "achieve protection of wild birds, natural habitat and biodiversity".

BirdLife Malta is also Malta's first environment NGO. It was founded in January 1962 and was then known as MOS (Malta Ornithological Society). It started off more as a study group, but rapidly realised that wild birds were in dire need of someone to fight for their protection. All of BirdLife Malta's efforts today are directly or indirectly channeled towards bird protection.

Malta is a very densely populated small Mediterranean island state, with no truly wild areas left. The biggest threats to birds in Malta are habitat destruction (e.g. new roads, building development, hotels, golf courses), disturbance and direct persecution (hunting, trapping). Malta has been called "the most savagely bird-hostile place in Europe".

BirdLife Malta uses various ways to achieve bird protection. Foremost among its methods are education, especially through schools campaigns, publications, the media and an active junior member section; the management of two wetland nature reserves, namely Għadira and Is-Simar; lobbying the authorities for better bird-protection legislation; assisting the police for better law enforcement; reclaiming and improving degraded habitat; and doing research about birds and their habitat to identify more areas for protection.

BirdLife Malta issues various newsletters and magazines for its membership, and publishes books about natural history. Its latest book is Nature in Gozo (2007).

BirdLife Malta is an entirely voluntary organisation and dependent on subscription and donations. Membership currently stands at about 3000.

BirdLife Malta is a Partner of BirdLife International, a global network of environmental organisations in 100 countries and territories.

See also

• List of environmental organizations

External links

• Birdlife Malta Homepage