📋 Tender Overview
Start Date: 01/09/2022
End Date: 31/12/2027
Total Eligible Budget: 3,654,579 €
EU Contribution: 2,740,934 €
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
The long-term project goal is to secure the favourable conservation status of the Cinereous Vulture in Portugal by consolidating, enhancing, and accelerating the ongoing natural recolonisation of the species by improving its habitat and foraging conditions, limiting threats, and developing national capacities. In the short-term this project will double the breeding population in Portugal from 40 pairs in 4 colonies to at least 80 pairs in 5 sites. We also aim to increase the breeding success in Portugal from 0,38 (too low for a viable population) to 0,5+. Ultimately this project will lead to an improvement of the conservation status of the CV in Portugal – the aim is to downgrade the national status from Critically Endangered to Endangered by the end of the project. Currently the Portuguese breeding colonies are very fragile, with low productivity and they are threatened by several factors, including destruction by increasing forest fires. The illegal use of poison, limited food availability due to sanitary restrictions and scarce wild herbivore populations, the consumption of unsafe food resources (contaminated by veterinary drugs or lead from hunting ammunition), human disturbance during the breeding season and death by collision/electrocution in power lines are other major threats to the viability of the species in Portugal. We will manage the habitat to prevent forest fires in the current colonies, improve food availability through the establishment and mainstreaming of novel unfenced feeding areas in Portugal. We will also reduce the risk of lead intoxication by securing a permanent transition to non-lead ammunition in several hunting estates, and significantly reduce disturbance around the colonies. We will also manage habitat around existing and potential new colonies, in Portugal and in nearby Spanish sites, to promote range expansion, the establishment of new colonies, and connectivity, securing the solid and sustainable expansion of the species in Portugal
