​​​As an EU Member State, Malta is committed to submit information, on an annual basis, on various core data flows maintained by the European Environment Agency (EEA)​, with support from the European Topic Centre on Biological Diversity​.

The core data flow relevant to biodiversity is a report on areas designated under national legislation for the purpose of nature protection. This report, which is also known as the Common Database on Designated Areas (CDDA) report, is essentially a database of the various designated areas in national Law. It consists of a spatial dataset, incorporating details such as date of designation, the legal document under which each site has become designated, and the IUCN protected area management category, amongst other information. The reports submitted by Malta can be found here​.

The table below lists the different national designations reported by Malta, and provides the number of sites that fall under these designations, as submitted to the EEA by Malta. One should be aware that the number of sites reported under every national designation varies from one year to another, in view of updates in the national protected area designation process.

The data submitted in the CDDA report feeds into a central inventory, which began in 1995 under the CORINE programme of the European Commission. In turn, this inventory is used as the official source of protected area information from European countries to the World Database of Protected Areas (WDPA), which is the most comprehensive global database on terrestrial and marine protected areas.​​

*The latest submission by Malta on the CDDA report was carried out in March of 2020, and hence it will not include updates by Malta in the same year.

Other links

• Press release – MECP
• LIFE BaĦAR info sheet: New marine protected areas for reefs & caves (English version | Maltese version)