Our countryside is getting quieter and quieter. The barn swallow, for example, has declined by 40 per cent in the last 20 years in Portugal, while one in every four species of forest birds is in decline, and birds that depend on agricultural areas have also suffered alarming declines.
Throughout Europe, it’s estimated that 64% of bird species in agricultural areas are in decline. Instruments like the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy are also failing to protect biodiversity and small farmers. So it’s up to us to act.
We want to create a nation-wide Bird Sanctuary Network, with a clear mission: to create safe havens where birds can thrive, protecting their habitats and reversing this downward trend.
In these sanctuaries, our experts will work with landowners to identify and implement measures that help birds and biodiversity, as by improving conditions for birds we will have positive impacts on the whole ecosystem.
Together, let’s bring birdsong back to our fields!
Support a network of hope
With the Bird Sanctuary Network, everyone in Portugal will gain from a healthier environment: where birds thrive, nature blooms. This impact will spread beyond our borders, as our sanctuaries will help support migratory species, in a ripple effect that will be felt for miles.
The aim of the Bird Sanctuary Network is to create a patchwork of safe havens throughout the country, where farmland and forest-dwelling birds can rest, feed and breed. At each sanctuary, SPEA experts will identify and monitor the existing bird species and analyze the characteristics of the site, working together with the owners to define bird-friendly measures, which owners commit to implementing. These measures could include, for example, creating ponds and water points, replacing invasive plants with native species, growing crop plots for wildlife, or installing nest boxes.
To create each sanctuary in this network, we need €3,000.
Where will sanctuaries be created?
The sanctuaries will be created on plots of land of at least 1 hectare whose owners commit to implementing bird-friendly measures for at least 5 years, in accordance with the management plan defined jointly with the SPEA.
