‘Natura Maltija’ is a professional documentary series dedicated to showcasing the unique natural heritage of Malta. It explores the diverse ecosystems and wildlife found locally, offering a unique perspective on Malta’s rich biodiversity and shedding light on the importance of preserving these natural treasures. There are very few local educational documentaries that inform both residents and visitors to Malta about the importance of conserving nature for both planetary and human health. Moreover, no other program provides footage of local endemic and indigenous species in their natural habitat through a scientific lens and addresses human impacts on these species.

Saviour Bonnici, a professional teacher and part-time documentary film maker, will be delivering this project. Malta is home to 11,000 species of flora and fauna, including approximately 130 endemic species. However, this biodiversity is unfortunately under threat. Saviour strongly believes that changing mindsets begins with education but that nature education is lacking in Malta. This led him to create the professional documentary series which showcases the wide variety of flora and fauna found on the Maltese Islands including the rarest mammal in Malta – the Maltese Weasel.

So far ‘Natura Maltija’ Season 1 and 2 have contributed to scientific knowledge, revealing new wildlife behaviours never before documented. The documentary has also made this information accessible to the general public and is used by the Ministry for Education for educational purposes. The President of Malta has even acknowledged it as a valuable educational resource. Education is key!

Documentaries are a great tool to bring about change in society and one of the key objectives of ‘Natura Maltija’ is to instil positive feelings of appreciation towards the natural environment, since for real change to happen, people must first understand and believe that what we have deserves to be protected.

The Malta Environment Foundation is proud to be supporting Mr Bonnici in his latest endeavour to create online versions of ‘Natura Maltija’, include English translations and make it more easily and permanently accessible to as many people as possible.

The expected results are:

• Engagement of new audiences by increasing accessibility
• A free educational resource for teachers, lecturers and students
• A free tool for NGOs and individuals to convince authorities and politicians to protect the natural environment
• Initiate discussions with the Ministry of Education to include the subject of nature education on the national school curriculum
• Generation of support for creating future content to film new species (only 100 out of 11,000 species found locally have been filmed so far)

“Access to knowledge empowers change in society. The support received through the MEF’s grant allows the Natura Maltija documentary to be freely accessible to everyone on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. People of all ages and backgrounds will now have access to watch, learn and educate about Malta’s unique natural heritage.”

Saviour Bonnici, Director and Producer of Natura Maltija Documentary