Ms Jennifer Fiorentino is one of this year's winners of the Buonamico Award, set up by the Environment and Resources Authority (ERA),
Every year, individuals who have made a significant contribution to our knowledge and/or management of local biodiversity and environmental resources, are honoured during this award-giving ceremony, named after 17th century Maltese naturalist Giovanni Francesco Buonamico, and under the patronage of H.E. the President of the Republic.
Giovanni Francesco Buonamico's varied intellectual interests resulted in the writing of at least four important manuscripts on natural history. These included the first flora of the Maltese Islands, the so-called Brevis Notitia manuscripts.
For the past decades, Ms Fiorentino has been identifying local lichens growing mainly on rocks, trees and soil. She is author of several scientific publications and various popular articles on lichens, and delivers lectures on the subject. More recently following a request by ERA, she has also compiled a Red List of lichens of the Maltese Islands. Her research will ultimately lead to the publication of a much-needed new checklist of the lichens of the Maltese Islands.