Linking agriculture with the conservation of endemic species : examples from the Maltese, Balearic, Greek and Aeolian Islands

Abstract

This project through four chosen groups of islands presents a picture of what is happening in the Mediterranean. This sea has about 4000 islands and all have their unique history, geology, flora, agriculture and environmental foundations. This richness has been achieved through long years of separation from mainland, and man has been travelling to these islands since long time ago. With man starting to permanently inhabiting these islands, he started to harvest and manipulate his environment to his needs and wants. Agriculture and animal husbandry where the first transformers of the landscape, fire, clearing of forests and grazing were all used to make way for land used for the much needed agriculture. This study brings out the main problems that are today being encountered, most of which are man induced problems. The main problems tackled are the agriculture land, fresh water resources, environmental degradation, deforestation, land use, infrastructure and tourism. All these have in some way or another disturbed and fragmented the habitats where flora and fauna grow. With further expansion of man's territories this has resulted in most of the organisms and endemics being restricted to only places which are remote or inaccessible to man. Protection of agriculture, biodiversity and endemic flora are also tackled in this study and is further backed up by providing a decent picture of information about what is happening to agriculture and these endemic flora on these selected islands. The biodiversity richness of the Mediterranean is also emphasised in this study, this has attracted several civilisations and with time a lot of native plants have been used for several purposes including medicinal and culinary uses. The uses of these plants and their potential uses through agriculture and their cultivation are in this study being offered. This should trigger further studies and help in giving value to these endemics, most of which are also at the brink of extinction