Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/750768
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 13 NOVEMBER 2016 41 This Week When you mention butterflies with people of a certain age they all sadly agree that butterflies were far more common in the past. Thanks to our love affair with herbicides and insecticide, butterfly numbers have indeed declined in recent decades. So a butterfly that today is considered common still pales with how it was, say, 50 years ago. One of the more familiar is the large (or cabbage) white, the biggest of the three whites that occur in the Islands. The large white (M: farfett tal-kaboċċi) is the one whose bristly yellow- and-black caterpillars we often see worming up an outside wall all fat and ready to pupate, or perhaps crawling hastily across our kitchen worktop away from that cabbage on the chopping board. It's true these caterpillars eat their share of some agricultural produce, but when pointing our irate and accusing fingers at the guilty munchers, do we ever stop to think about WHO pollinated those plants in the first place? It's butterflies and their friends, that's who. GREEN IDEA OF THE WEEK 435: FIND OUT MORE: Visit http://www.foei.org/ what-we-do/UN-treaty-on-TNCs to find more information and updates. Visit Friends of the Earth's website for more information about our work, as well as for information about how to join us. You can also support us by sending us a donation - www.foemalta.org/donate Text and photo Victor Falzon 532. LARGE WHITE Collision course with catastrophic climate change The world is still on a collision course with climate change despite the international climate agreement forged in Paris last year entering into force ahead of schedule today. 197 countries have signed the 'Paris agreement' to limit global warming to well below 2°C and to pursue efforts to stay below 1.5°C. However, as representatives of all nations make their way to Marrakesh, Morocco, for the next round of international climate change talks, new research from the UN's environment programme shows we're on track to 3.4 degrees of global warming, with devastating climate impacts worldwide. One year on and rich industrialised nations are showing no signs of kicking their fossil fuel addiction. Signatures and good-will are not enough – we're on a collision course with climate change and Europe needs to end the exploitation and use of fossil fuels and other dirty energy. The talks in Marrakech will focus on the implementation of the Paris agreement just a few weeks before the EU's new renewable energy and energy efficiency targets for 2030 will be published. The upcoming announcements will likely fall short of both the 2°C and 1.5°C degree targets despite the EU's ratification of the Paris agreement earlier in October. If we're to have any chance of limiting dangerous climate change, the EU must do its fair share to keep global warming below 1.5°C. This means binding higher targets for energy efficiency and renewable energy and a true push for a citizen-centred energy transition. The UN's environment programme shows the key role of energy efficiency in reducing emissions, highlighting the need for higher energy efficiency and renewable energy targets in order to cut emissions in half by 2030. Winners of the Terramaxka Book Prize announced at the Malta Book Festival The awards are dedicated to books for children and young adults The National Book Council announced the winners of the Terramaxka Prize 2016 – a national prize for books written for children and adolescents throughout 2015. Winners were announced on Tuesday, November 7 during the official opening of the Malta Book Festival at the Mediterranean Conference Centre, Valletta in the pres- ence of all prize participants, Festival exhibitors and other special guests. These win- ning titles were celebrated during Festival mornings in a series of activities organised for visiting school children. Following are all winning titles of the Terramaxka Prize in their respective categories. Original work: books for children (ages 0-7) Mingu by Clare Azzopardi (Merlin Publishers Limited). Original work: books for children (ages 8-12) Irvin Vella Investigatur Virtwali: il-Każ Manduca by John A. Bonello (Merlin Publish- ers Limited). Original work: books for adolescents (ages 13-16) Djamantini by Kulleġġ Santa Klara, Skola Sekondarja, Pembroke. Translation: books translated into Maltese (ages 0-7) Vjoletta by Loranne Vella (Merlin Publishers Limited) – translation of 'Violeta' by Abril Calero. Translation: books translated into Maltese (ages 8-12) Il-Leġenda ta' San Ġorġ u d-Dragun by Pierre J. Mejlak (Merlin Publishers Limited) – translation of 'La llegenda de Sant Jordi i el Drac' by Laura Vaqué. Prize for Best Book Production: Terramaxka book prize 2015 Merlin Publishers Limited for Mingu by Clare Azzopardi. Prize for Illustrator of Winning Book in the Original Works: Books for Children (ages 0-7) Lisa Falzon for Mingu. Prize for Illustrator of Winning Book in the Original Works: Books for children (ages 8-12) category Lisa Falzon for Irvin Vella Investigatur Virtwali: il-Kaz Manduca. The Malta Book Festival continues today at the Mediterranean Conference Centre, Valletta from 08:30 to 21:30