> LPN signed a protocol with the Municipality of Vila do Bispo for the conservation of the Temporary Ponds of this county, within the scope of LIFE Charcos Project.
Under the LIFE Charcos Project, Tito Rosa, president of the LPN (Liga para a Protecção da Natureza - coordenator of LIFE Charcos Project) and Adelino Soares, mayor of Vila do Bispo, signed a collaboration protocol on the 21st of November, 2016, which aims to the conservation of two temporary ponds in a rustic building of the municipality, where we can observe, among other inhabitants, the tadpole-shrimp Triops vicentinus, descendant of Triops cancriformis, of which there are fossils with 180 million years.
The protocol defines the terms of collaboration of the municipality of Vila do Bispo with the LPN in the implementation of the plan of execution of the actions to be carried out in the temporary ponds in the building designated "Samouqueira", namely in the management of the favorable conservation status of the temporary ponds, in the monitoring of the impact of these management actions and the placement of information panels.
The municipality of Vila do Bispo will also collaborate in the execution of some interventions of the LIFE Charcos Project that take place in the municipality, in support of the LPN or the partners of the project, as restoration actions of those spaces or actions of environmental awareness.
The two entities also undertake to collaborate, during and after the execution of said project, in the conservation of the Mediterranean Temporary Ponds, namely through the design of initiatives complementary to this project.
The aim is to implement habitat management measures in these areas to avoid their degradation, ensure their maintenance and improve their long-term conservation status. Sensitizing the population to good practices to ensure the conservation of ponds and demonstrating conservation actions to encourage and support public policies for the application of appropriate support measures for their management and conservation are other objectives to achieve with the signing of this document.
The LIFE Charcos Project aims to conserve a priority habitat, the Mediterranean Temporary Ponds, which are increasingly threatened due to their ecological fragility and ignorance of their natural value. The forms of land management, namely the intensification of industrialized agriculture, are one of the main and most recent decline factors of this habitat. This Project covers the entire area of the Community Importance Site of the Southwest Coast of Portugal, belonging to the Natura 2000 Network.
