The LIFE project Habitat Lince Abutre will be represented in the ‘I Worldwide Raptor Conference’, an international meeting that will be held 21-24 October 2013 in the heart of Nahuel Huapi National Park, Bariloche City, Rio Negro province, Argentina.

Hosted by the Universidad Nacional del Comahue – INIBIOMA/CONICET, this will be the first joint meeting between the Raptor Research Foundation, the Neotropical Raptor Network (The Peregrine Fund) and the World Working Group on Birds of Prey and Owls, and will encompass the Raptor Research Foundation Annual Conference 2013, the III Neotropical Raptor Network Conference and the WWGBP VII International Conference on Birds of Prey and Owls.

The meeting will gather raptor researchers coming from five continents and more than 25 countries, and besides workshops and field trips, the scientific program includes more than 150 presentations about current and cutting edge raptor research conducted around the world. Several symposia will be held on topics including Neotropic Ecozone Raptors, Palearctic Ecozone Raptors, Long-term Research, Biomedicine, Dispersal and Migration, Falcons of the World, Nocturnal Birds of Prey, Habitat Relationships, Interactions with Energy Infrastructure, and Vultures and Condors of the World.

Eduardo Santos, project coordinator, will be sharing the experience and results of four years of hard work under LIFE Habitat Lince Abutre on the ‘Integrated Conservation of Eurasian Black Vulture (Aegypius monachus) in South-eastern Portugal’.




Given the chosen location for this gathering, and because we want you to keep following our advancements, we leave the abstract of the talk we will be giving on October 23 at this Conference:
 

*EDUARDO SANTOS (programa.lince@lpn.pt), ALFONSO GODINO, DAVID DELGADO, FILIPA LOUREIRO, NUNO CURADO, Liga para a Protecção da Natureza, Lisboa, Portugal, SÉRGIO CORREIA, Centro de Estudos da Avifauna Ibérica, Évora, Portugal.

The Eurasian black vulture is a Critically Endangered species in Portugal that only recently re-colonized the country as a breeding species, currently with five nesting pairs. South-eastern Portugal has no breeding pairs, but is widely used by the breeding population and non-breeding dispersing individuals from neighbouring Spanish colonies. The aim of the LIFE project ‘Habitat Lince Abutre’ (http://habitatlinceabutre.lpn.pt; LIFE08 NAT/P/000227, co-funded by the EU LIFE-Nature programme) is to promote the reestablishment of a breeding population of Eurasian black vulture in the south-eastern Portugal Special Protection Areas of Mourão/Moura/Barrancos and Vale do Guadiana. Following the evaluation of the priority areas for the species in this region, an integrated conservation effort has been put into action by the project, ranging from strategic regional planning and direct work with stakeholders to concrete conservation actions aiming at improving breeding and trophic resources. Currently, a poison mitigation plan and a regional species action plan have been proposed to the national conservation agency. Eleven management agreements have been established with local stakeholders for this species conservation, covering over 10.000 hectares. Within this area, approximately 30 artificial nests have been constructed and a network of 10 feeding stations has been established, supplied with local livestock and big game carcasses whilst safeguarding human and wildlife health issues. Regarding public participation and awareness, the project has locally reached over 2.500 school children and 500 stakeholders, but thousands of people nationwide. The evaluation of changes in public perceptions and attitudes as well as public participation meetings are also being held, aiming at the understanding and engaging of the local society. The project’s conservation measures and the existing foraging vultures are being actively monitored. This monitoring has already confirmed the use of the feeding stations by this species and the importance of the region for scavenger birds’ conservation.


For further information on the conference visit:
http://www.raptorresearchfoundation.org/conferences/current-conference