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The Ceratonia Foundation, AD’s cultural wing, was founded in February 1999. The activities that the Foundation has organized to date include:

The organization of a seminar on “Proposed EU Directives On Port Facilities for Ship Generated Waste”.

This seminar was held at the Malta Drydocks and was attended by authorities and companies operating in the maritime sector. These included the Malta Drydocks, the Malta Maritime Authority, the Environment Protection Department, Oil Tanking, Freeport, Mediterranean Offshore Bunkering Facility, Enemalta, Alternattiva Demokratika and other environmental organizations. The seminar’s guest was Joost Lagendijk, MEP, rapporteur for the European Parliament and proponent of the law being discussed in the European Union. Malpractice in this sector could have disastrous effects on our country. This seminar highlighted the importance of introducing the necessary and adequate legislation within the Maltese legislative framework.

The seminar “The Activity of the Multilateral Banks in the Mediterranean: the role of civil societies in monitoring Social and Environmental Impact” was organized as part of the international campaign concerning the World Bank’s reform.

This seminar focused on the role of NGOs in monitoring multilateral banks such as the World Bank and the European Investment Bank, and overseeing if projects financed by these banks to ensure these will be sensitive to social and environmental issues. Through this seminar a Med Watch on these multilateral banks was founded. Ceratonia Foundation is part of this initiative. This seminar included the participation of Maltese and foreign NGOs from the social and environmental spheres, together with full time lobbyists monitoring international banks. The participants also met John Dalli, the Finance Minister.

Alternattiva Demokratika – The Green Party, on behalf of the European Federation of Green Parties, also commissioned the Foundation to help in the organization of a seminar in Malta for Mediterranean countries. “Schengen and Migration in the Mediterranean” was held between the 18th and 20th November 2002.

Along with Alternattiva Demokratika, the Foundation worked on a number of important seminars including one on the impact of the European Union in Maltese Agriculture. This seminar was organized in December 2001 and the main guest was Hannes Lorenzen, European Greens advisor on agriculture.

The Ceratonia Foundation also produced a series of 13 programmes on Capital Radio concerning the impact of EU accession on Malta. Themes discussed included agriculture, consumer rights, food, the environments, the self-employed, workers’ rights and cooperatives.

Ceratonia Foundation also organized a one day conference entitled “Inharsu l-Holqien" (Safeguarding Creation) which explored the relation between the Church and the environment. The main guest was Fr Sean McDonagh, an Irish monk who has written a number of bestsellers on the subject including “Greening the Church”. He worked for a number of years as a missionary/environmentalist in the Phillipines. Other guests included Tom Simpson, International Secretary of the Irish Greens and a number of exponents from the Maltese Church including Fr Paul Pace S.J. and Fr René Camilleri as well as other Maltese environmental groups.

Ceratonia Foundation currently participates in a Leonardo Da Vinci Programme together with partner organizations in Malta, Cyprus, Greece and Italy aimed at the preparation and  Trainers’ and Trainees’ manuals for use courses in organic farming in the Mediterranean. The project entitled “Training Mediterranean farmers in organic crop agriculture” is currently in its third phase and is reaching the final phase of implementation and assessment of the manual through the holding of a pilot course using the manual.

The final project product will be a manual in the languages of the various project participants. In the case of Malta, a specialized pedagogical text of such quality in the Maltese language is a unique achievement and will remain a standard work available for use for a long time in the future. Further information on the project can be obtained at the project website www.organicmed.org

Ceratonia Foundation also organized guided walks of Xaghra l-Hamra (Ghajn Tuffieha) and Ta' Cenc in Gozo in 2005 and 2006, sites threatened by deve;opment of a golf course; and a trip to Comino in 2007. These activities were aimed at raising awareness of Malta's natural heritage.