It was at Lameirões estate (Safara – Moura), property of the Portuguese State, totally inserted at the Natura 2000 network and managed by DRAP Alentejo, that we celebrated the open day of the project LIFE Habitat Lince Abutre: ‘Moura, Mourão and Barrancos – conservation of the natural heritage of a region’ – an event organized under the scope of the 20th anniversary of the LIFE Programme.
The exhibition of the comic ‘Iberian lynx: its history in Portugal’, a book produced under the scope of LIFE Habitat Lince Abutre, denounced at the entrance a bit of what was going to be discussed throughout the day.
Eduardo Santos, coordinator of LIFE Habitat Lince Abutre, along with Lurdes Carvalho (ICNB) and Camarate Campos (DRAP Alentejo), began the celebrations with a talk about the LIFE Programme, the implementation of Natura 2000 in the region and the importance of the Moura/Barrancos Site under the scope of the Habitats Directive.
About 50 people participated in a session of short talks about the several LIFE – Nature projects that for the last years have contributed to the conservation and recovery of threatened species and habitats of the region of Moura and Barrancos, namely the LIFE projects ‘Lince Moura/Barrancos’, ‘Habitat Lince Abutre’, ‘Estepárias’, ‘Innovation against poison’ and ‘Iberlince’.
After the communications, people were led through a guided visit around the estate, to observe in the field some of the measures implemented under the scope of these projects. The first stop was near a vast crop of cereals, where LIFE Estepárias is building a nesting tower for the Lesser Kestrel, a small hawk classified as ‘Vulnerable’ in Portugal.
The visit continued with a demonstration of the actions of the European Canine Team of search and identification of poison, working for LIFE Innovation against poison. After detecting the exact location of poisoned baits, the dogs warn their handler, who in turn informs SEPNA (the Nature and Environment Protection Service) to proceed to the collection of the evidence.
The visit ended at the Mourão/Moura/Barrancos SPA’s feeding station for black vulture, recently built by LIFE Habitat Lince Abutre. It was the last chance to visit that structure from the inside, because as soon as it starts functioning, for sanitary reasons, only the project’s veterinary will be authorized to go inside the feeding station. The participants of the open day got to know how the fields will be replenished with carcasses and in what the veterinary support will consist of.
Oral communication about the project LIFE Lince Moura/Barrancos (Filipa Loureiro, LPN)
Oral communication about the project LIFE Habitat Lince Abutre (Eduardo Santos, LPN and Alfonso Godino, CEAI)
Oral communication about the project LIFE Estepárias (Rita Alcazar, LPN)
Oral communication about the project LIFE Innovation against poison (Catarina Machado, CEAI)
Oral communication about the project LIFE Iberlince (Lurdes Carvalho, ICNB)
LIFE Programme
LIFE is the EU’s financial instrument supporting environmental and nature conservation projects throughout the EU, as well as in some candidate, acceding and neighbouring countries. Since 1992, LIFE has co-financed some 3506 projects, contributing approximately €2.5 billion to the protection of the environment.
Read more on LIFE Programme: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/