They are busy at the Argotti Gardens these days, and not only because of the weekend’s folk festival. For one thing, they are seeing what to do about saving a species of plant, the tursin il-ghul xewwieki, or sarcopoterium spinosum, which is one species in Malta threatened with extinction.

Rural Affairs and Environment Minister George Pullicino visited the botanical gardens yesterday and learned for himself the details of what is being done there. His visit is part of the activities for Environment Week.

Several endemic plants are threatened with extinction, he learned. Micro-propagation of the tursin species is at the second stage, leading eventually to it being re-planted back in its

natural environment.

The work at the Argotti Gardens includes the cultivation of rare and endemic plants such as widnet il-bahar, building a library of the genetic diversity of plants, building a seed bank and research.

Malta had an obligation to do this work, Mr Pullicino said, referring to the challenges the world faced due to climate change, which could lead to the disappearance of hundreds of thousands of species of plant life.

Mr Pullicino said Malta had a legal framework that protected important ecological sites. Under the Natura 2000 network, these sites took up 12.5 per cent of Malta, compared to the European Union’s 15 per cent, despite Malta being so densely populated.