Brava: Biflores with four projects to work on the conservation and preservation of biodiversity

In an interview with Inforpress, Dheeraj Jayant said that one of the projects aims to work on the conservation of endemic plants and land conservation, but that there are also others linked to marine conservation, sustainable development and environmental education.

Within the land conservation programme, he indicated that the association is working on organizing the transition from free grazing to controlled grazing, but also on a reforestation programme, maintenance of the forest perimeter and the conservation of endemic plants.

In the area of marine conservation, he explained that Biflores collaborates with the Vitó project and other environmental NGOs to monitor turtles, sharks and rays on Brava Island and Rombos islets.
As for the sustainable development project, he informed that they are working to capture fog water for agroecology initiatives.

On environmental education, he explained that for the next academic year, which begins in mid-September, they intend to develop a project together with schools and even communities to work on raising awareness about the conservation and preservation of terrestrial and marine biodiversity in Brava , which is “extremely threatened” by climate change, anthropogenic factors, hence the idea of working to protect what belongs to the island and the country.

Asked about the difficulties that the association has found to implement these projects, he emphasized that the island itself already has its structural problems, starting with the question of transport, among other aspects.

But, in relation to the population, he highlighted that people are already aware of the need to work and organize a transition, especially in the area of grazing, that several activities have already been carried out, among them, workshops with breeders and shepherds, and it is already in an action plan is in progress that they are developing with the community and the Campo Baixo cheese processing cooperative, reinforcing that the Brave community has been participating in a positive way.

Still on the environmental education project, he stressed that they will also involve all existing community associations on Brava, in order to reach all areas of the island, with practical activities, such as ecological walks to discover the endemic plants in nature, in key areas of biodiversity on the island, namely in the area of Fajã d´Água, Campo das Fontes and Fontainhas.

According to the same source, the focus is on working to improve human actions, also remembering that the island is already suffering the impacts of climate change, exemplifying the lack of rain, water, desertification, among other impacts that are already visible on the island.