On February 7, the Forest Producers Association of Caldeirão Hills (APFSC), at Barranco do Velho (Loulé county, Algarve), was the stage for an awareness campaign about LIFE Habitat Lince Abutre targeted at local and regional stakeholders of Caldeirão Hills – one of the five Natura 2000 areas covered by this project and a former area of Iberian lynx occurrence.

 

This informal meeting gathered 17 people from different sectors, namely forestry (APFSC and APCOR – Portuguese Cork Association), hunting, agriculture and environment, as well as a researcher from the University of Évora.
 
 

  

The number of questions posed at the end of the presentation and the positive discussion and interaction that resulted, particularly around issues such as the Iberian lynx as a top predator, Natura 2000 and some difficulties in the dialogue, reaffirm the need for the accomplishment of such initiatives, not only targeting local stakeholders but also the population as a whole.

 

This meeting allowed narrowing contacts with hunting associations and managers of areas with great importance for the promotion and protection of the Iberian lynx habitat at Caldeirão Hills, as well as sharing information and establishing synergies concerning habitat management measures suitable for a more effective recovery of wild rabbit local populations, the Iberian lynx’s main prey and one of the most important game species of the region, but whose numbers have suffered a drastic decline in the past decades due to two viral diseases. The recovery of this species is a goal common to conservationists and hunters, which is why, if aligned in the same direction, efforts for its conservation can bring better results.

The project’s team thanks the APFSC for allowing this campaign taking place at their facilities, and to the Engineer Pedro Jesus for his cooperation. We also thank all the participants that accepted our invitation to take part of this campaign and get to know more about LIFE Habitat Lince Abutre and its contributes to the region, applauding the affluence of hunters to this initiative as it ended up gathering a third (8 out of 23 hunting clubs and associations) of the hunting managers of the region where this awareness campaign took place.


Throughout the next two years, several other awareness campaigns will take place at the three areas of intervention of the project: Mourão, Moura and Barrancos, Guadiana Valley and Caldeirão Hills. Stay tuned to our website!