The head of the EU LIFE Nature Fund, Philip Owen, visited the Yelkouan Shearwater Project site at Rdum tal-Madonna on Sunday.

Mr Owen is in Malta to promote the launch of a new European funding stream, LIFE + and took the opportunity to see the work carried out by the BirdLife Malta and Yelkouan Shearwater project team. The project is 50 per cent funded by the current LIFE programme.

The Yelkouan Shearwater Project is the largest conservation initiative of its kind in Malta and receives generous funding from the HSBC Cares for the Environment Fund, the Malta Environment and Planning Authority (Mepa), the seven project partners and the EU. Mr Owen was shown the new project sign which replaces the one that was vandalised shortly after the launch of the project last March.

BirdLife Malta president Joseph Mangion pointed out that Mr Owen’s visit was an excellent opportunity for the project team to show one of the top people in European funding the importance of conservation work in Malta.

“The Maltese Islands have around 10 per cent of the world’s population of Yelkouan Shearwaters so it is critical, at an international level, that we protect them,” said Mr Mangion.