Bondalti — Habitat Perditos

... /

Bondalti's involvement

“Lost Habitat” aims to preserve Natural Capital by promoting benefits and positive impacts for society at large.

Selected Thematic Area

“Lost Habitat” its objective is the preservation of Natural Capital, promoting benefits and positive impacts for society in general. The project contributes to increasing the environmental awareness and responsibility of Bondalti and its collaborators, integrating the preservation of Natural Capital into the company's decision-making and intervention process, in this case through direct support for conservation actions for species with high conservation status and high ecological value.

It is a project with relevance and territorial and temporal scale for the conservation of two of the most emblematic and threatened species of Mediterranean ecosystems, through the establishment of partnerships with entities representing landowners and concession entities and managers of hunting areas.

This project makes it possible to leverage a set of significant advantages for the conservation and promotion of biodiversity, through the involvement of the business sector and agents on the ground in concrete actions for the management of natural resources, actively contributing to national and international strategies aimed at the recovery and conservation of the Iberian lynx and the Iberian imperial eagle, species that are top predators in Mediterranean ecosystems.

These species are excellent bioindicators of the quality of rural and natural spaces, and their presence is evidence of good management and suitable conditions for a wide variety of other species on which these superpredators depend.

Problem: identification and its relevance to Bondalti

“Lost Habitat” stems from Bondalti's interest in internalizing environmental and social concerns. Inspired by the concept of Business & Biodiversity, the company established a partnership with ANPC in 2017 to support the conservation and promotion of biodiversity on the ground, on a spatial and temporal scale. This Natural Capital preservation project supports the implementation of a set of measures for the conservation and promotion of Biodiversity, focused on the recovery and conservation of two priority species: the Iberian lynx and the imperial eagle.

The project is developed in Vale de Perditos, a territory of about three thousand hectares, located next to the border along the Chança River in Vila Verde de Ficalho, which constitutes an ecological corridor that ensures the connectivity and expansion of existing populations of these protected species, on both sides of the border. It consists of four Tourist Hunting Zones, with which collaboration protocols have been established. It ensures the continued implementation of management and conservation measures that benefit the target species, actively contributing to the preservation of the landscape, the prevention of rural fires, the fight against desertification and local socio-economic promotion.

This project is an initiative with significant results in the conservation of the Iberian lynx and the imperial eagle, and a Case-study, an example to follow, by other entities concerned and committed to the preservation of Natural Capital.

“Lost Habitat” is aligned with two of the most strategically important SDGs for Bondalti, 8 — Decent work and economic growth, through the creation of qualified and permanent jobs in a depressed area, while also contributing strongly to the local socio-economy; and 15 — Terrestrial life, through its own action to recover and conserve local biodiversity.

The Project involves the Management, Corporate Communication Advisory and the Bondalti Strategy, Control, Innovation and Sustainability Department.

Resolution: actions, steps, partnerships

-> Reinforce environmental initiatives in Bondalti's internal procedures, solidifying its responsible conduct, namely with the preparation of dissemination and awareness-raising content about the importance of biodiversity;

-> Contribute, effectively, with relevant territorial and temporal scales, to the consolidation of the processes of recovery of the Iberian imperial eagle and the reintroduction of the Iberian lynx, into national territory, promoting connectivity between areas of occurrence or reintroduction, as well as contributing to the existence of conditions that allow the establishment of new population centers, either through natural colonization or through reintroduction processes;

-> Create and maintain habitats and densities of prey species (wild rabbit, red partridge, and hare) adequate to ensure a stable presence of Iberian lynx and imperial eagle populations;

-> Contribute to the safeguarding of social and economic sustainability, together with environmental and ecological sustainability, developing management models that allow the creation of wealth based on the sustainable exploitation of natural resources, as well as the creation of employment, through the dynamization of traditional rural activities, including forms of sustainable exploitation of natural resources such as agriculture, forestry, hunting and tourism.

In practical terms, the initiative aims to promote and preserve the different existing habitats in Vale de Perditos that partridges and rabbits, prey to lynx and eagles, need to survive and reproduce successfully. Habitat interventions follow best practices and are based on techniques that result from technical-scientific and practical knowledge, to create and maintain ideal conditions for a wide range of species, regulating and correcting any imbalances, in an adaptive management process.

The most structural interventions involve the installation of a multiplicity of feeding fields, designed to provide food, nesting sites and refuge for prey species, but also benefiting many other species present in the ecosystem, promoting a mosaic of habitats and potentiating the ecotone effect.

Grasses and legumes are sown every year, in extreme plots or in combination, which guarantee greater and more regular food availability, installed in carefully chosen places to maximize the effects on the fauna.

In environments such as Alentejo, access to water is also a critical factor. Therefore, within the scope of this conservation project, another priority is the cleaning of water lines and the maintenance of a network of natural water points and small dams. Additionally, a network of 272 feeders and 120 artificial drinking fountains was installed - which help to enable the increase of prey populations, ensuring food and water availability throughout the life cycle of the species. Taken together, the mosaic vegetation and the dense network of water points also guarantee the essential discontinuities to reduce the risk and spread of fires.

All these tasks are carried out by a team of managers, forest resource guards and rural workers assigned to hunting areas, who are also responsible for carrying out surveillance and monitoring work, especially aimed at rabbit and partridge populations, which allows for detailed information on the evolution of populations. There is also a permanent phototrap network on the ground that allows monitoring existing populations in Vale de Perditos and detecting the occurrence of new species, as was the case of the dispersing Iberian lynx specimen that came to this area.

All of this work is under scientific supervision, and this initiative is an example of good management and collaboration with national and foreign scientific institutions, focusing on best practices and knowledge, and making available the areas under consideration for the development of research, demonstration, dissemination and awareness-raising actions.

The work carried out in Vale de Perditos is scientifically supported by the CIBIO of the University of Porto, an entity that has collaborated in the monitoring work and carried out research and experimental development, both in terms of the biology and ecology of the species, and also at the genetic and health levels, and the results and knowledge produced over time have contributed to adjusting and improving the management of permanent habitats and populations.

Key Challenges

Contributing to the mitigation of the effects of climate change; creating and maintaining balanced ecosystems; promoting biodiversity and the conservation of particularly threatened species; ensuring landscapes resilient to disasters and rural fires; based on a sustainable management and exploration model, are the main challenges of “Habitat Perditos” project.

Results

Vale de Perditos has a remarkable set of results over the last four years in terms of the conservation of Natural Capital, including:

-> Release, by the ICNF, of an Iberian lynx breeding couple;

-> Constant presence of an imperial eagle couple in the last two years, in hunting actions and cutting rituals, which culminated in the construction and occupation of a nest;

-> Confirmed and successful nesting of a golden eagle couple and two Bonelli's eagle couples;

-> Constant presence and use of the area by several specimens in hunting behavior and/or dispersion of imperial eagles, golden eagles and bonelli eagles, among a wide variety of other daytime and nocturnal birds of prey;

-> Confirmed presence of a dispersing Iberian lynx (specimen released at another location that remained 10 months in Vale de Perditos);

-> Regular presence of other rare species with high conservation status, such as the black stork or the wild cat, among many others;

-> High density of wild rabbits (3 to 5 rabbits/ha) and partridges (2.3 partrids/ha), ensuring high food availability throughout the year;

-> Significant increase in the breeding rooster population and resident ribbed pigeon populations;

-> Maintenance of a mosaic landscape, with high resilience, ecological value and support capacity for a wide range of species;

-> Maintenance and conservation of an area with excellent conditions for natural recolonization or for carrying out actions to reintroduce Iberian lynx;

-> Total absence of fires;

-> Maintenance of five jobs in an area with high human desertification.

It is expected that the project “Lost Habitat” Continue in the coming years and that the excellent results achieved so far can not only be maintained, but also reinforced, especially in relation to the Iberian lynx, with the establishment of breeding stock, with the area, scale and habitat and prey conditions compatible with the presence of several breeding females.

With the release of a breeding pair of Iberian lynx and the regular presence of a third specimen, and taking into account the quality of the territory and its location in an interface area between the existing centers in the Guadiana Valley and in Spain, it is expected that the reproduction of this species can take place in the short term.

Recommendations

“Lost Habitat” its objective is the active management of a vast natural and rural area, being an example and Case study, which, through its wide dissemination, sensitizes and raises awareness for the conservation and promotion of Natural Capital.

The project was publicized through online platforms, such as websites institutions from Bondalti and ANPC, YouTube and LinkedIn, and a paper brochure was also produced, with an initial print run of 500 copies, which was distributed by several partners. The film “Biodiversity that Unites Us”, directed by Bondalti, had more than 12 thousand views on Facebook, in addition to 1035 direct views on YouTube and another 700 on LinkedIn (up to December 2022). A second film, entitled “Iberian Lynx, Return to Nature” had more than 5 thousand views on YouTube.

The dissemination of this project through videos and pedagogical materials goes further to the promotion of good Biodiversity management practices, causing a very positive impact on society in general through education and awareness-raising on these issues. This project constitutes a true Case study and an example that may be followed by other entities concerned and committed to the preservation of Natural Capital.

It is, therefore, a project that has a high potential to be replicated/scaled up in similar situations, with high gains in terms of the conservation of Natural Capital.

‍