Belmiro de Azevedo Foundation Award 2023 awarded to two projects

The Belmiro de Azevedo Foundation Award 2023, in the area of Conservation, restoration, and monitoring of biodiversity in Portugal, is the result of a partnership between FCT and the Belmiro de Azevedo Foundation and recognizes two projects, selected after evaluating the 44 applications received.

 First place was awarded to the project“CCforBio – Conservation corridors in woodlands: A win-win for biodiversity, wood production, and carbon sequestration,”which will receive €207,698.00 in funding. The principal investigator, Bruna Raquel Figueiredo Oliveira, is affiliated with the University of Aveiro. This project aims to demonstrate the value of conservation corridors in production forests by restoring a riparian gallery in the Matas Nacionais das Dunas de Quiaios (MNDQ) on the coast of Portugal, which burned in 2017 and is currently dominated by the invasive species Acacia longifolia.

Second place went to the project“Barrocal-Cave: Conservation, monitoring, and restoration assessment of the world-class cave biodiversity hotspot in Portugal.” The funding awarded is €163,883.00, and the Principal Investigator, Ana Sofia Pereira Serrenho Reboleira, belongs to FCiências.ID – Association for Science Research and Development. The main challenge of this project is the conservation of the Vale Telheiro Cave, located in the Barrocal do Algarve area, which was recently recognized as a global hotspot for underground biodiversity. The aim is to create useful information for the protection of the cave, as well as a framework for its future ecological assessment, ensuring its sustainability. In addition, a proposal for a legal framework for the protection of the habitat and the most relevant species is also planned.

The financial support to be granted to the two winning projects totals €371,581.00, and each of the Foundations will finance 50% of the total prize.

The partnership between the Belmiro de Azevedo Foundation (FBA) and FCT was established through Regulation No. 848/2023, published in the Official Gazette, 2nd Series on August 3, 2023, and aims to provide financial support for projects involving "Conservation, restoration, and monitoring of biodiversity in Portugal" up to a total amount of five hundred thousand euros.