Within the auspices of the PANACEA (Promotion of Marine Protected Areas Through Environmental Education Centres) project, the IOI-MOC at the University of Malta, represented by Dr Alan Deidun, commissioned Monolith Limited and Shaun Arrigo to compile brief underwater documentaries on the two Marine Protected Areas at Rdum Majjiesa and Dwejra. The screening of the same documentaries was premiered on a complimentary basis for over two hundred secondary school students who were invited, along with a number of local stakeholders from the marine sector, for a celebration of Malta’s underwater assets on Tuesday 22 May, the International Day for Biodiversity. Attendees to the complimentary screening were also given a copy of the short documentaries, which will eventually be disseminated to all local schools as from the next scholastic year and which will also be shown to the public in additional future screenings. Eventually, the same footage will also be projected continuously so as to acquaint the Maltese public with the underwater assets of our islands, to fill the current dearth of knowledge on marine biodiversity that the public has. The same documentary will not be on sale.
In Dr Deidun’s words, the documentary 'marks an unprecedented local attempt at projecting Malta’s stunning underwater assets to students through unrivalled video quality and audio.' Dr Deidun also elaborated on the importance to manage judiciously the living assets within Malta's marine space, which greatly eclipses in terms of spatial area, the terrestrial area of the islands – in fact, if one considers just the marine space within Malta’s territorial waters, this is 14 times the island’s terrestrial area, whilst the figure goes up to almost 40 times if one considers the Fisheries Management Zone (FMZ). He also explained how, whilst awareness about biodiversity was luckily on the increase, this was solely limited to terrestrial aspects and did not extend to the coastal/marine domains. For instance, whilst many today know that the national plant is the Maltese rock-centaury (widnet il-bahar), few actually know that the Neptune Grass (Posidonia oceanica) is actually a flowering plant and not an alga.
Other speakers at the event included Mr Martin Bugelli, Head of the European Commission representation in Malta who co-sponsored the event along with IOI-MOC, and Hon. Mario de Marco, Minister for Tourism, Culture and the Environment, who lauded the initiative and who elaborated on government’s vision for the management of the 5 local MPA's.
The PANACEA project is being financed under the auspices of the Italia-Malta 2007-2013 ERDF programme. The project will be running from 25 April 2011 to 24 April 2013. Its ultimate aim is to promote the sound scientific management of biodiversity assets within Sicilian and Maltese MPA’s by drawing on codes of best practice developed within selected MPA's and through the institution of environmental educational centres. These centres can be considered as portals of edutainment, in which visitors (students, divers, tourists, locals) are regaled with a didactic experience through a kaleidoscopic overview of the MPA's living resources through a number of ad hoc tools, including documentaries, interactive tools, permanent exhibitions and models, ecological laboratories, etc. The other Maltese partner within the PANACEA project, besides the University of Malta, is the San Lawrenz local council in Gozo. The six Central Mediterranean MPA's participating in the project include Dwejra (Gozo), Rdum Majjiesa (Malta), Plemmirio (Syracuse, Sicily), Lampedusa and Linosa (Pelagian Islands, Sicily), Ustica and Isola delle Femmine (Palermo, Sicily).
Other promotional and informative material to be spawned eventually from the PANACEA project include a scientific manual on all participating project MPA's, promotional leaflets, an ad hoc project website and a permanent interactive display within the environmental education centre to be developed at Dwejra.
The University of Malta launched the inaugural issue of Research Matters, a bi-annual magazine focusing on sharing news about the latest developments in research activity at Malta’s Alma Mater. The publication has been conceived as part of the University’s planned initiative to explain in layman’s terms the contribution of the University’s research to Malta in order to raise public awareness about the research aspect of the University.
Click here to download the publication. 
Attention all Academics
A new series of University Matters has started on campusFM. If you would like to talk about your research projects/activities please contact Patricia Camilleri.
To hear previous interviews click here.
Programme Details
Presenter: Patricia Camilleri
Duration: 30 mins
Language: English
Recording slots: 1000hrs and 1100hrs on Thursdays. However, if those slots are really not convenient for you, arrangements can be made with campusFM to hold the recordings at other times and/or on another day.
The Future of Harmonised Environmental Information
The press release is available online.
Information and updates on the research carried out by the Joint Research Centre European Commission is available here. Interested persons wishing to seek additional information about visiting the JRC institutes and/or participating in such projects should get in touch with the JRC National.
Contact Point:
Dr Maria Attard at the University of Malta
Dr Jennifer Cassingena Harper at the Malta Council for Science & Technology
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