Biosfera 1 Newsletter We are Biosfera Activities 1st Trimester 2016 Series 1
Facebook: Biosfera 1 E-mail: geral@biosfera1.com tommymelo@hotmail.com Phone: (+238) 2317929/ 9844447 HeadQuarters: Rua Moçambique, nª 28, Mindelo, São Vicente, Cabo Verde News Index Contacts 1 - Biosfera 1 launches online course on "Bird Watching" of the project MacaroAves.----- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Pag. 2 2 - CEPF funds project lasting 11 months to build capacities in the NGO and improve the knowledge of Raso ants --------------------------------------------------------Pag.3 3 - Biosfera 1 already has its own national crew for the vessel Jairo Mora Sandoval ----- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Pag.4 4 - Osprey nests monitored on the island of São Vicente---------------------------Pag.5 5 - Bird Monitoring in the Wastewater Treatment Plant --------------------------Pag.6 6 - Centro Cultural of Mindelo welcomes Biosfera 1 s Environmental Tertúlia -----Pag.7 Members Spot This space is yours! If you want to share some news or photos, please contact us! If you're not yet a member of Biosfera, please contact us and find out how to be! 1
Biosfera 1 launches online course on "Bird Watching" of the project MacaroAves. From 24 February to 15 March, people from different areas and different nationalities were able to improve their knowledge on bird watching activities without leaving their homes. The online training on "Bird watching" of the MacaroAves project had 75 subscribers. These ensured a degree of "ornithological tour guide" given by SEO / BirdLife, a renowned non-governmental european organization. This course that has been accomplished in the Azores, Madeira, the Canary Islands and now Cape Verde, concluded the MacaroAves project that began in 2014 and aimed to develop actions to a harmonized tourism with environmental conservation, especially for birds of the Macaronesia promoting rural development of their islands, using the uniqueness as resource of its natural spaces and its birdlife. MacaroAves was also one of the sponsors of the Biosfera 1 exhibition entitled "Santa Luzia, Branco and Raso: A mosaic of the unique heritage of the Cape Verde islands" held at Palácio do Povo, island of São Vicente, in the summer of 2014. 2
CEPF funds project lasting 11 months to build capacities in the NGO and improve the knowledge in Raso ants. Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) finances project lasting 11 months to strengthen the capabilities of the NGO Biosfera 1 in the field of financial management, communication and image. To implement a communication and image office is one of the strategies proposed by Biosfera and its partners in the NGO Strategic Plan 2015-2019 and which makes it possible, thanks to the project now running. Creating a newsletter each trimester, merchandising of Biosfera 1 materials and also raising more private and collective members are some of the activities to be undertaken by the newly created office. This project that had its inception in January 2016, also aims to study the invasive ants control viability in Raso islet. These ants were introduced by man and it is intended in this project to know its distribution area in the islet and the extent to which this population affects the survival of other species in the islet, especially the young caperverdean shearwaters and Raso larks, both endemic birds of Cape Verde. 3
Biosfera 1 already has its own national crew for the vessel Jairo Mora Sandoval Ivan Pires is the official captain of the vessel Jairo Mora Sandoval. This vessel was offered by the International NGO Sea Shepherd Global to Biosfera1 in order to improve logistics in the implementation of activities in the Reserve of Santa Luzia and Islets. Ivan "Mandela" Pires received practical training with Ryan Jones and Fabrice Destreguil, former captain and first mate of Jairo and theoretical and theoretical-practical training with PatrãoNautico-School of Nautical Activities Lda in Lisbon (Portugal). The theoretical and practical part included search and rescue maneuvers, final exams, among others, which secured the letter of local patron to captain Pires. It is recalled that the vessel Jairo Mora Sandoval was so named after the death of a Costa Rican with the same name in May 2013 with only 26 years old. Jairo patrolled the beaches of Costa Rica on a Sea Turtle Conservation project when he was killed by turtle poachers. 4
Osprey nests monitored on the island of São Vicente Since March 2016, osprey nests (Pandion haliaetus) have been monitored across the coastline of the island of São Vicente. According to biologist from Biosfera 1, Isabel Rodrigues, this first phase will aim at counting the number and location of the nests on the island of São Vicente. The previous project of nests monitoring in the island dates from 1999 under Luis Palma coordination, CIBIO researcher (Portugal). Isabel and her colleague, Heiton Fortes, patrol the osprey nests marked in 1999 to see if they are still active and find potential nests in other parts of the island. It is intended for this project of Biosfera I, to be done annually and extended to the Reserve of Santa Luzia and Islets, in order to know the estimated population of osprey in these islands and their population trends. These activities have been replicated in other islands, including the island of S. Nicolau, by a student of the University of Cape Verde, Rosiane Fortes under the orientation of investigator Luis Palma. 5
Bird Monitoring in the Wastewater Treatment Plant. WWTP of Mindelo was inaugurated in 1987 and is provided with a treatment system by impoundment, which allows plenty of fresh water for the species of birds that use Cape Verde in their migration routes. Each year the number of individuals and species of migratory birds increases in the WWTP. This preliminary result was achieved due to the monitoring process of migrating birds that has been held by the Biosfera 1 team since 2012. This study in partnership with the Portuguese Society for the Study of Birds (SPEA-Portugal) aims to follow the migratory birds to know the different species that use the WWTP as resting site and their abundance each time/season. In addition, Biosfera 1 is a pioneer in the introduction of data of the island of São Vicente in www.ebird.org, a database on bird watching worldwide. The ebird is a data source that provides real and basic information about the distribution and abundance of birds in a variety of spatial and temporal scales. 6
Centro Cultural of Mindelo welcomes Environmental Tertúlia of Biosfera 1 During the Environmental Tertúlia that occurred at Centro Cultural of Mindelo (CCM), Biosfera 1, presented a Strategic Development Plan of Ornithological Tourism. This plan combines guidelines developed in other Macaronesian archipelagos and may serve as a tool guide in the development of ornithological tourism activities in Cabo Verde. Even within this activity, Biosfera 1 and Centro Cultural of Mindelo signed a letter of donation of the exhibition entitled "Santa Luzia, Branco and Raso: A mosaic of the unique heritage of the Cape Verde islands ". This estate was offered to CCM to ensure proper preservation of equipment (various illustrative panels) and potentiate their roaming. It is to be noted that all the spoil, and / or parts of this (depending on the needs of the request) will be available for schools, institutions and associations, if requested to the CCM and if the applicant presents conditions to ensure the safeguarding of the material while in his possession. 7
Sponsors Editors Graphic Design: Nathalie Melo Texts: Patrícia Rendall Rocha Photographs: Photos Biosfera 1 (main photographer Nathalie Melo) 8