At a presentation held last week at the Hagar Qim Park Visitor Centre, Prof. Alan Deidun presented the results of the various initiatives undertaken during the CORALLO project.
This Interreg Italia-Malta 2014-2020 project saw Maltese and Sicilian partners joining together to “fostering of a greater degree of awareness amongst Natura 2000 sites users and visitors about the biodiversity assets held within these same sites. CORALLO aims to unlock the untapped potential of a number of Natura 2000 sites in Malta and Sicily by promoting the largely-unknown and unique living and landscape assets of each site and their responsible enjoyment. The project’s three specific objectives (I. identification of needs and characteristics of Natura 2000 sites, II. promotion of ecosystem services, and III. awareness-generation) tangibly and coherently show how this main objective can be achieved.” The Maltese partners in the project included the University of Malta, the Environmental and Resources Authority and Heritage Malta.
Prof. Deidun gave a rundown of some of the initiatives that were concluded under the project, which included various ways to present the Natura 2000 marine sites to the general public, including people who are unable to go themselves underwater.
These included:
- 360 degree video footage of the underwater environment for use in conjunction with VR headsets
- 3D models of Filfla, St. Paul’s Islands and Qawra Point
- 3D models of various marine species
- 3d Stand-up digital banner showing marine species
- Production of Educational TV spots that were found to be very effective with the older generations that were aired on the national broadcaster in prime time
- Events at various locations and presence at public events
- Interactive totem at Ghar Dalam
- A publication titled: “Correct enjoyment (and awareness raising) of Natura 2000 Locations”
- Information boards at various Natura 2000 sites
- Upgrades at the Dwejra Interpretation Centre
- Corallo Mobile App (still in development but to be launched soon)
You may find more information about some of the events and tools above in the CORALLO website at https://corallo-italiamalta.eu/
Prof Deidun also hinted at the potential for a follow-up project to the Corallo Project, though this appeared to be still early days thinking.
The presentation was also followed up by speeches by the Minister for Culture, the ERA Chairman and HM’s Chief Operations Officer as representatives as well of other partners in the project and the customary photoshoots… as well as practical use of some of the tools created under this project.
The Corallo project was also recently featured on Euronews
Thanks to Prof. Deidun, his colleagues and partner organisations for this interesting project and fingers crossed to see more projects bringing underwater environment awareness to the masses, encouraging them to take care of it, and why not, maybe dive in responsibly!