<
https://cinea.ec.europa.eu/news-events/news/how-life-pulled-one-europes-rarest-birds-back-extinction-2023-11-07_en>
"Once one of the continent’s most critically endangered birds, the Azores
bullfinch - known to locals as Priolo and to scientists as
Pyrrhula murina -
can only be found on the island of São Miguel in Portugal. When the first LIFE
project began there, the population had shrunk to below 100 breeding pairs. Now
there are more than 1,300 individuals. ‘It’s not just the number of individuals
but also the trend,’ says Azucena de la Cruz from the Portuguese Society for
the Study of Birds (SPEA). ‘The population trend has been stable for the last
eight years.’
‘The Azorean bullfinch was near extinction in the past,’ adds Ana Mendonca from
the SPEA, which has led the last four LIFE projects on São Miguel. ‘Nowadays
the population is three times bigger thanks to the efforts made to preserve the
species.’
São Miguel enjoys EUROPARC Sustainable Destination status under the European
Charter for Sustainable Tourism in Protected Areas. The island also includes
the Special Protection Area (SPA) Pico da Vara / Ribeira do Guilherme, part of
the Natura 2000 network. ‘Sustainable tourism is a really good way to promote
local development through conservation,’ adds de la Cruz from SPEA. ‘From the
beginning, our projects had a social component. We run education programmes,
teacher training courses and public outreach.’
Eco-tourism is a major source of revenue for the Azores. ‘You cannot have
nature tourism if you don’t preserve your biodiversity,’ says SPEA’s Azucena de
la Cruz. ‘We hope by hearing the story of the Azores bullfinch, people are
inspired to adapt it to species in their own land.’"
Via
Future Crunch:
<
https://futurecrunch.com/good-news-child-nutrition-human-rights-bhutan-ocean-png/>
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
