Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1531497
6 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 15 JANUARY 2025 NEWS THE Maltese Islands enjoy theirown special miniaturized 'megafauna', with pygmy ele- phants and giant swans roaming a landscape that many would struggle to recognise today. But when did these animals die out, and why? How many of them really lived alongside one another? Where did they come from, and what were the ecolog- ical consequences of their loss? Through a prestigious Nation- al Geographic Grant, Prof. Elea- nor Scerri, a Maltese scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Geoanthropology in Germany, and the University of Malta's Department of Classics and Archaeology, hopes to address these questions. The grant, one of only 10 awarded globally, follows on from a 1.5-million-euro Euro- pean Research Grant, to invest in an ongoing programme of research that is transforming what we know about the deep past of our islands. Scerri, together with expert colleagues at the University of Malta, Heritage Malta (Natu- ral History), and the Superin- tendence of Cultural Heritage, is investigating Maltese natural history and the transformation from pristine natural systems to human dominated landscapes. As a National Geographic ex- plorer, she aims to invest yet more of her energies and sci- entific focus on the Maltese Is- lands. "Malta has a unique history," Scerri explained. "It featured a unique iconic miniaturized megafauna, but we still know very little about these animals. We'd like to clarify when these animals lived, which ones lived at the same time, and why they died out. We'd also like to understand the ecosystem impacts of the loss of these an- imals, and later on, when hu- mans arrived, how they began to transform landscapes and ecosystems. This investment in our research programme will allow us to answer these ques- tions." As the work of Scerri and her team of scientists and collabo- rators work together to address these issues, Scerri, together with Prof. Nicholas Vella of the University of Malta's Classics and Archaeology Department, have organised a flagship con- ference in order to disseminate results with both the public and the global scientific community. Funded by the University of Malta's Research Innovation and Development Trust (RIDT) and the Max Planck Institute, the conference is entitled "Is- land Legacies: Prehistoric Insu- lar Ecosystems, Societies, and Climate Change in the Mediter- ranean". The conference will bring to- gether internationally leading scientists and researchers work- ing on similar questions across all Mediterranean Islands, with the goal of using knowledge of the past to bring to bear on present challenges being faced by Mediterranean island com- munities. "We hope to be able to share the first results of our work at the conference," says Prof. Scerri. "Scientific work takes a long time as it involves a lot of independent analyses to either verify or reject a hypothesis. However, our research pro- gramme is starting to deliver. New investment from the Na- tional Geographic Society will allow us to further expand and conduct new cutting-edge sci- entific analysis that will begin to clarify what is currently a rather murky deep time past of the Maltese Islands. We're very excited to see what this will reveal, and how it can help to mitigate the local effects of the current climate and biodiversi- ty crisis." National Geographic grant for Maltese scientist Prof. Eleanor Scerri DURING the third quarter of 2024, Malta regis- tered a current account surplus of €451.2 million. Provisional figures for Malta's external trans- actions show that during July to September 2024, the current account balance recorded a surplus of €451.2 million, compared to a sur- plus of €584.0 million in the same quarter of the previous year. This surplus was primarily the result of posi- tive balances in the services (€1,873.9 million) and secondary income (€24.5 million). This was partly offset by negative net balanc- es in the goods (€751.2 million) and primary income (€696.0 million). During the third quarter of 2024, the cap- ital account registered a positive net balance of €33.5 million, which represents a decrease of €23.0 million when compared to the third quarter of 2023. Total net assets recorded in the financial ac- count stood at €589.5 million, an increase of €31.6 million when compared to the value re- corded in the same quarter of 2023. The development in the net financial account was mainly brought about by net asset increas- es in other investment (€3,368.3 million), fi- nancial derivatives (€54.8 million) and portfo- lio investment (€8.0 million). This was partly offset by net asset decreases in direct investment (€2,911.6 million). Re- serve assets increased by €70.0 million during the same period. Malta registered current account surplus of €451.2 million in Q3 2024 Current account balance