WHAT WE ARE DOING
The Faia Brava Reserve creates spaces of Nature for a more sustainable territory. Our main mission is ecological conservation and restoration, visitation and learning.
LIFE Aegypius Return
CONSOLIDATION AND EXPANSION OF THE CINEREOUS VULTURE POPULATION
IN PORTUGAL AND WESTERN SPAIN / 2022-2027
Consolidation and expansion
The project "LIFE Aegypius return - consolidation and expansion of the cinereous vulture population in Portugal and Western Spain", funded by the LIFE Program of the European Union (EU), aims to consolidate and expand the population of the cinereous vulture in Portugal and Western Spain.
The cinereous vulture colonies in this distribution area are currently very fragile, with low productivity and threatened by several factors.
foto LIFE_Aegypius_banner_LPN
Major threats to the viability of the species in Portugal include habitat destruction by increasing forest fires, illegal use of poison, limited food availability due to health restrictions and reduced wild herbivore populations, consumption of food resources contaminated by veterinary drugs or lead (from hunting ammunition), human disturbance during the breeding season and death by collision/electrocution on power lines.
The long-term goal of the project is to ensure the favorable conservation status of the cinereous vulture in Portugal by consolidating, improving and accelerating the ongoing natural recolonization of the species, improving its habitat and feeding conditions, while limiting threats and developing national capabilities.
LIFE21 Aegypius Return - The LIFE Program is the EUs funding instrument for environment and climate action. On May 21, 2022, he turned thirty.
Faia Brava Research and Education Learning Lab
FUNDAÇÃO BELMIRO DE AZEVEDO / 2022 - 2025
Education in the field
In recent years, the needs of schools are increasingly evolving towards classes in the field and in which they can relate to the most pressing challenges of contemporary societies.
Topics such as loss of biodiversity, climate change, rural abandonment, or agricultural and energy transitions, oblige us to prepare new generations for an effective search for possible solutions for them.
photo João Cosme
New approaches to nature conservation, such as rewilding, require further study and understanding. And our future generation needs this involvement in the great environmental challenges that meanwhile offer us prospects for the future!
Faia Brava/ATNatureza has more than 15 years of experience in developing and offering educational programs to primary and secondary schools and their teachers.
Until now, these programs have been based on small projects, and or as spontaneous initiatives. Help us take this next big step by creating a permanent Education, Research and Development Laboratory.
FUNDAÇÃO BELMIRO DE AZEVEDO - Faia Brava Research and Education Learning Lab
For more information visit the project website:
https://fundacaobelmirodeazevedo.pt/atividades/faia-brava-research-and-education-learning-lab
Forest Restoration in Faia Brava
REACT-EU/2021 FEDER - SUPPORT FOR THE CLIMATE TRANSITION / 2023
Resilience interventions
Faia Brava presents a high risk of desertification and it is urgent to stop this problem, improving natural regeneration, and restoring the Mediterranean forest in a ‘return to the future’.
Our objective is to restore the Montado landscape with 80 mature trees per hectare, thus accelerating the regeneration of the Mediterranean forest in Faia Brava. Apply and compare different methodologies such as seed dispersal, ‘formation pruning’ and tree planting using different techniques.
photo João Cosme
Improve forestation conditions with emphasis on water availability and fire prevention as a strategy to combat desertification. Also present a strategy to combat desertification in degraded semi-arid areas, namely in this one that is the most typical for the degraded landscape in the northeast of Portugal and possibly for many areas of the Iberian peninsula. Disseminate results through knowledge exchange and education activities for professionals, students and schoolchildren.
COMPETE 2020 - FEDER - Territorial Resilience Interventions in the face of risk - Combating desertification through reforestation and actions that promote an increase in carbon and nutrient fixation in the soil.
For more information visit the project website: https://www.compete2020.gov.pt/Avisos/detalhe/AC13_REACT-EU2021
An Impulse for Biodiversity in Faia Brava
VIRIDIA I E II / 2021 - 2024
Conservation measures
This project proposal includes a set of nature conservation measures in the Faia Brava reserve with a direct impact on biodiversity. It works both short and long term, both defensive and active.
In the long term, we propose to accelerate reforestation by pruning 25 ha of bush and cork oak, boosting vertical growth, and creating four patches of forest biodiversity (each 0.25 ha) as a future seed bank for natural reforestation.
photo João Cosme
As a defensive measure, we propose to clear 50ha of bush dominated areas to reduce the risk and impact of bush fires and create a fire corridor to stop bush fires. In addition, we propose to create a pit in the north which will attract herbivores that now stay in the south. Better natural dispersal of herbivores will increase the structural diversity of the vegetation and therefore biodiversity. Monitoring the actions and their effectiveness is part of the project. The project will be implemented by its own team, and external experts when necessary.
VIRIDIA I & II - An Impulse for Biodiversity in Faia Brava
For more information visit the project website: https://viridia.pt/why-we-exist/our-projects/faia-brava/
LIFE Wolflux
REWILDING - LIFE WOLFLUX / 2019 - 2023
Conserving the Iberian Wolf population
Life Wolflux is a project financed by the European Union focused on the conservation of the Iberian wolf population in the south of the Douro.
The Iberian wolf is one of the most endangered species in our country, at risk of extinction. The Portuguese Iberian wolf subpopulation south of the Douro River is severely fragmented and highly isolated from the rest of the Iberian population due to geographic, ecological and social barriers.
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The LIFE WolFlux project aims to promote the ecological and socio-economic conditions necessary to support the viability of this subpopulation of Iberian wolf. ATNatureza is responsible for the project's environmental education actions. We work with schools in the region to raise awareness among children and young people about the importance of the conservation of this species.
REWILDING - LIFE WOLFLUX / 2019 - 2023
For more information visit the project website: https://rewilding-portugal.com/pt/life-wolflux/
Nature and Us
PORTUGAL ENVIRONMENT FUND - ENVIRONMENT AND CLIMATE ACTION / 2023
Active participation of the population
The dissemination of rigorous knowledge about the values of the territory, the problems they face and their possible solutions, is presented as a crucial way to raise citizens; awareness of the services that the natural values of the territory provide to their lives and economic activity .
This Environmental Education program aims at civic empowerment and the active participation of the population in the conservation of natural values, at a time when society is facing major societal challenges, such as climate change and the extreme events associated with it.
João Cosme
It is proposed to establish an awareness program on the Value of the Natural Heritage of the border region of Ribacôa and the threats of Climate Change to its preservation. With an emphasis on the Environmental Education component, this will be a program aimed at the school community, presenting itself in a context of multidisciplinary integration in educational programs as well as in extracurricular activities. On the other hand, it is also intended to encourage playful and non-formal environmental interaction practices among a wider audience from the point of view of their age, social and cultural diversity and plurality, which encourages a long-term relationship between the inhabitants of the territory and the natural world, based on a logic of respect for environmental integrity. The aim is thus to contribute to the three main aspects of the National Strategy for the Conservation of Nature and Biodiversity 2030 (ENCNB 2030), namely:
a) Improve the state of conservation of the natural heritage;
b) Promote recognition of the value of natural heritage;
c) Foster the appropriation of natural values and biodiversity by society.
PORTUGAL ENVIRONMENTAL FUND - Environment and Climate Action
For more information visit the project website:
Trees for All
LANDSCAPE RESTORATION AND REFORESTATION IN FAIA BRAVA, PORTUGAL
Small mediterranean woods
The Beira Alta region, where the Faia Brava Reserve is located, is undergoing a desertification process due to climate change. The landscapes are increasingly dominated by shrubby vegetation, such as broom, which increases the risk of fire spread.
Forests play a crucial role in combating climate change and biodiversity loss.
photo Faia Brava
They also act as a seed bank and enrich the soil with organic matter, thus increasing both the nutrients present in it, as well as its water retention capacity. Forests are also essential for carbon sequestration, and for increasing habitat resilience against forest fires.
ATN, through the "Trees for All" project, intends to combat these factors by creating small Mediterranean forests, planting 8,000 native trees. In addition, the actions of this project were also used as environmental education tools, having invited students from different schools to participate in the plantations and in talks about their importance.
The Endangered Landscapes Programme
For more information visit the project website:
https://www.endangeredlandscapes.org/project/greater-coa-valley/
foto João Cosme
LIFE Club de Fincas
BY THE CONSERVATION OF THE IBERIAN WEST / 2012 - 2017
Habitat conservation
The transnational project (Spain and Portugal) had the general objective of improving the conservation status and population/area of the main habitats and species of the Western Iberian Peninsula (by their occupied area/representativeness and/or conservation interest according to their scarcity or ecological importance) of the meso- and supra-Mediterranean bioclimatic floors. To this end, we propose to intervene in a total of 10 Natura 2000 sites with different actions to improve birds (SPAs) and habitats (SCIs). The specific objectives are:
photo João Cosme
• Awareness at local, regional and national levels about the Western Iberian territory as a transnational ecological unit of enormous value for the conservation of biodiversity in Europe.
• Improved food resources for Spanish imperial eagle, golden eagle, Eurasian eagle owl.
• Improving population levels of cinereous vulture, Egyptian vulture, Bonelli’s eagle, black stork and lesser kestrel.
LIFE12NAT/ES/000595 - FUNDACIÓN NATURALEZA Y HOMBRE
For more information visit the project website: https://fnyh.org/educacion-ambiental/life-club-de-fincas/
foto João Cosme
R-WILD-CÔA
ECOLOGICAL CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES
OF TROPHIC REWILDING IN CÔA VALLE / 2020 - 2023
Impact of ungulates
This project, developed by researchers from the University of Aveiro in partnership with several other institutions, including the Associação Transumancia e Natureza, aims to predict the impact of ungulates on the functionality of Mediterranean ecosystems.
The rupestrian marks identified over the Côa Valley are the evidence that the link between ungulates and Humans is a long tradition that dates back to the Palaeolithic period. By harnessing animal traction, humans have shaped Mediterranean landscapes for centuries, causing the degradation of ecosystem services and the extirpation of biodiversity, including wild ungulates.
photo Ana Berliner
Today, the Côa Valley is characterized by an unparalleled level of land abandonment, which creates new opportunities for the comeback of wildlife through trophic rewilding, i.e. an environmental management option that can foster the restoration of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning by reintroducing medium and/or large ungulates in areas from where they were extirpated. As an emerging concept, trophic rewilding is controversial and there is no strong empirical knowledge to support its local implementation, social acceptance and ecological sustainability. The Côa Valley represents an outstanding outdoor laboratory to test and quantify the potential role of wild ungulates as ‘engineers’ of Mediterranean ecosystems. rWILD-COA will produce a wealth of knowledge to assist the implementation of self-sustainable ecosystems and to increase the predictability of rewilding outcomes. By integrating a variety of specialized teams and disciplines (e.g. ecology, microbiology, veterinary), rWILD-COA is aimed to
i) predict how ungulates impact soil ecological processes and functioning (e.g. soil microbial activity, biogeochemical cycling) by grazing, grubbing, trampling and dunging, and study how these activities influence vegetation structure and invertebrate communities through soil nutrient mediation,
ii) explore the direct and indirect pathways by which ungulates buffer or strengthen changes in species richness and diversity in the face of other environmental perturbations, such as climate warming,
iii) evaluate the effects of extensive and intensive grazing and/or browsing on fire risk mitigation, and iv) analyse plant-soil feedback effects and the role of inter and intraspecific competition on foraging efficiency, diet quality and animal health of reintroduced individuals. rWILD-COA represents an approach of worldwide interest, where scientific evidences support the maintenance and/or restore of Mediterranean-type ecosystems.
For more information visit the project website:
http://www.cesam.ua.pt/?menu=&language=eng&tabela=projectosdetail&projectid=1547
The Endangered Landscapes Programme
CREATING A WILDER FUTURE FOR THE GREATER CÔA VALLEY, WESTERN IBERIA
Life corridor
This project will create a crucial wildlife corridor in the Grande Côa Valley and transform a region with currently high levels of rural depopulation and species loss into a region with new opportunities for people and wildlife.
The Côa Valley of northern Portugal is an important region for birds of prey and apex predators, but overhunting and persecution has reduced populations of these species, disrupted food chains and damaged the local ecology.
photo João Cosme
This project will create a crucial wildlife corridor in the Côa Valley and transform a region with currently high levels of rural depopulation and species loss into a region with new opportunities for people and wildlife. The reintroduction of species and the recovery of the biodiversity-rich Mediterranean forest will create the conditions for the return of wildlife, and underpin the development of a modern, nature-based economy that serves as a regional model.
The Endangered Landscapes Programme
For more information visit the project website: https://www.endangeredlandscapes.org/project/greater-coa-valley/
photography João Cosme
LIFE Rupis
CONSERVATION OF THE EGYPTIAN VULTURE AND THE BONELLI’S EAGLE
IN THE DOURO RIVER VALLEY / 2014 - 2019
Egyptian vulture and Bonelli’s eagle
Life Rupis – Conservation of the Egyptian vulture and the Bonelli’s eagle in the Douro river valley was a cross-border conservation project, with a duration of 5 years (2014– 2019), co-financed through the program LIFE of the European Commission.
The project, which took place in Portuguese and Spanish territory, more specifically in the protected areas of Douro Internacional and Vale do Rio Águeda and Arribes del Duero, intended to implement actions aimed at strengthening the populations of Egyptian vulture and Bonelli’s eagle in this region, through the reduction its mortality and increased reproductive success.
photo João Cosme
Cinereous vulture and red kite are species that will also benefit from the projects actions.
LIFE14 NAT/PT/000855
For more information visit the project website:http://www.rupis.pt/pt/
photography João Cosme