BirdLife Malta’s Life Arċipelagu Garnija project has released a set of guidelines for ecologically responsible lighting in the Maltese Islands.
The aim of the guidelines is to protect Malta’s nocturnal environment for seabirds.
The guidelines are being shared with the relevant stakeholders as part of the EU Life-funded project, which has worked to secure the Maltese Islands for the Yelkouan shearwater (Garnija), a small seabird species that can only be found in the central and eastern Mediterranean region.
The Maltese islands are home to about 10% of the world population of this shearwater species, listed as ‘vulnerable’ by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) on its Red List of Threatened Species.
Birdlife said light pollution in Europe is increasing by 5-10% annually and 99% of the European population lives under light-polluted skies – a trend evident in the Maltese Islands as a result of poorly designed lighting schemes and an over-use of bright white LEDs.
Light pollution is among the main threats faced by Yelkouan shearwaters. These vulnerable seabirds are sensitive to light and this was one of the main issues addressed by the project, which has been ongoing for the past five years and ends this year.
In spite of all the work carried out in this regard, this problem can only be solved through a holistic approach, Birdlife said.
It said that through these guidelines, it was taking a bold step in this direction.
The Life Arċipelagu Garnija has also submitted a set of policy recommendations on the same topic to policy decision-makers.
The Guidelines for Ecologically Responsible Lighting aim to provide councils, architects and developers with best-practice guidelines for the design and assessment of sustainable, cost-effective and seabird-friendly lighting.
Key principles in light pollution mitigation are described in the document, which is also designed to complement current European Union standards and national legislation regarding outdoor lighting.
The guidelines are being published independently of the light pollution guidelines published by the government earlier in the year, to which Birdlife contributed with data-driven proposals.
It hoped they will lead to the formation of a policy on light pollution for Malta.