LIFE Aegypius Return
Progress and results
At the heart of every successful wildlife conservation initiative lies transparency, open communication and a shared commitment to monitor the project’s progress, results and deliverables. Our LIFE Aegypius Return project funders, collaborators, stakeholders and supporters share our passion in securing a favourable conservation status for the Cinereous Vulture in Portugal and Western Spain. Through regular updates on milestones and deliverables, we plan on keeping everyone informed and engaged in the progress of the project.
Work Package 1: Project management and coordination
Objectives and Expected Results
- Ensure the correct technical and financial management and implementation of the project
- Guarantee an effective coordination of all tasks and internal communication between the partners, through the mechanisms of coordination and adequate decision- making, and to secure provision of the necessary material and human resources
- Strengthen the cooperation between Portugal and Spain regarding the conservation of the Cinereous Vulture
| Milestone No | Milestone Name | Lead Beneficiary | Description | Progress |
| MS1 | Partnership contracts | All partners | These contracts formalise the commitments and the relationship between the coordinating beneficiary and the partners, and will follow the provisions of the LIFE Grant Agreement | Agreements signed on November 2022 |
Deliverable Number | Deliverable Name | Lead Beneficiary | Description | Progress |
| D1.1 | After-LIFE Plan | VCF | A report available to the public will be produced | To be produced by December 2027 |
Work Package 2: Improving breeding success
Objectives and Expected Results
- Support and increase of the Cinereous Vulture breeding population in Portugal and increase the breeding success
- Increase the number of pairs and surface occupied in each existing colony
- Establish one new breeding colony in Portugal and enhance breeding nuclei on the Spanish side that are important for connectivity and growth of the Portuguese colonies
- Increase the resilience of the wooded areas (an estimated impact area of 8,000 ha through direct habitat management of 570 ha + 25 km fire prevention strips) with breeding colonies or with high potential for nesting to climate change, including forest fires
- Prevent & mitigate human disturbance (at least in 4 breeding colonies and 1 new breeding colony in Portugal and 2 breeding colonies and new expected nuclei in Spain) affecting the species’ breeding productivity
- Construction of a total of at least 120 artificial nesting platforms in areas with high breeding potential, and repairing and consolidating a total of 105 existing natural or artificial nests
- Direct management of habitat (approx. 570 ha + 25 km strips) around the existing Cinereous Vulture colonies and around the main areas where new colonies can be established, to protect them from fire. It will benefit an estimated area of 8000 ha or more
| Milestone Number | Milestone Name | Lead Beneficiary | Description | Progress |
| MS2 | 120 management agreements signed | VCF | Negotiate with landowners/manager agreements for task development with defined criteria for future management | All agreements to be signed by July 2025 |
| MS3 | 120 new platforms installed | VCF | Setting up of all new nesting platforms to be installed in the existing or potential new colonies | All nests to be installed by March 2025 |
| Deliverable Number | Deliverable Name | Lead Beneficiary | Description | Progress |
| D2.1 | Habitat suitability analysis final report | VCF | LIFE After-Life Conservation Plan will be shared online | To be finalised by October 2023 |
| D2.2 | List of all relevant official public planning and management tools | Palombar, ATNatureza, HC | List of all relevant official public planning and management tools clearly identifying those which have been revised and to what extent, taking into account project results and recommendations | To be completed by December 2027 |
Work Package 3: Reinforcement of population
Objectives and Expected Results
- Reinforce the Douro Internacional SPA breeding colony (PTZPE0038)
- Soft release of approximately 20 rehabilitated CVs in the Douro Internacional breeding colony (PTZPE0038)
| Milestone Number | Milestone Name | Lead Beneficiary | Description | Progress |
| MS4 | Protocol for the successful rehabilitation (for release) of CVs | VCF | Guidelines and protocols to be followed by the wildlife rehabilitation centers in Portugal when receiving CVs | Completed in January 2024. View protocol. |
| MS5 | Construction of the acclimatization cage | Palombar | Construction of a custom- made aviary, next to the Douro Canyon, to house CVs after rehabilitation, for soft release | To be produced by March 2023 |
| MS6 | Soft release of minimum 4 CVs in the Douro colony per year | VCF, Palombar | Soft release of min. 4 CVs/year in the Douro area after acclimitisation to promote fixation in the area | To be released annually: October 2023 July 2024 July 2025 July 2026 July 2027 |
| Deliverable Number | Deliverable Name | Lead Beneficiary | Description | Progress |
| D3.1 | Annual report on soft-releases and movements of tagged birds | VCF, Palombar | An online summary of result in English | To be produced annually: December 2023 December 2024 December 2025 December 2026 December 2027 |
Work Package 4: Improving the food base for vultures
Objectives and Expected Results
- Increase food availability and quality for Cinereous Vulture in a sustainable way: improve the management of the vulture feeding stations network in Portugal and nearby Spanish areas, optimizing it for the CV, but go beyond the resource-heavy supplementary feeding by creating and mainstreaming unfenced feeding areas in Portugal
- Establishment of 2 new supplementary vulture feeding sites (one in Portugal and one in Spain), and one renovated in Spain
- Over 55 non-fenced feeding areas established in the distribution range of CV in Portugal + 10 in nearby Spanish areas (covering a total surface of extensive livestock holdings of at least 18,000 ha)
| Milestone Number | Milestone Name | Lead Beneficiary | Description | Progress |
| MS7 | 35 non-fenced feeding areas operating | LPN | First 35 non- fenced feeding areas operating | To be in operation by January 2026 |
| MS8 | 2 new supplementary feeding staions fully operational | ATN and FNyH | 2 new supplementary feeding stations fully operational | To be established by August 2024 |
| Deliverable Number | Deliverable Name | Lead Beneficiary | Description | Progress |
| D4.1 | Strategy for increasing food availability for the Cinereous Vulture in the project area | LPN | Online report in Portuguese | To be produced by November 2023 |
Work Package 5: Mitigate threats / Reduce mortality
Objectives and Expected Results
- Improve the knowledge on the impact of contaminants (lead & veterinary drugs) on the Cinereous Vulture and develop tools to mitigate and regulate themSecure the permanent transition to non-lead ammunition in a significant area of the species range in Portugal
- Improve the mechanisms of fight and prevention against illegal poisoning in Portugal
- Raise awareness of key-actors on contaminants to mitigate its effect on Cinereous Vulture conservation
- 2 new anti-poisoning dog units within the Portuguese police established in Central Portugal, in an area key to at least 3 of the Portuguese breeding colonies (Douro, Malcata, Tejo), that will enhance the implementation of the national anti-poisoning programme, and will reduce mortality due to poisoning
- Transition to non-lead ammunition secured in 14 areas (28,380ha) within the Cinereous Vulture distribution range in Portugal, covering a total of 300 hunters, and thus minimising the risk of lead poisoning
- At least 30% of poisoning cases detected in the project area generate an official investigation (in which project beneficiaries formally assist in the procedures) and 1-2 reach court
Milestone Number | Milestone Name | Lead Beneficiary | Description | Progress |
MS9 | Two dog units established and operational | GNR | Two dog units, each one with one dog, established, with proper housing constructed in GNR facilities in Guarda, after a period of training | Training completed by December 2023 |
Deliverable No | Deliverable Name | Lead Beneficiary | Description | Progress |
D5.1 | Two reports (mid-term and final) of poisoning cases detected within project area and their judiciary follow up) | VCF, GNR, SPEA | Summary of all poisoning cases detected within project area, including results of analysis, judiciary follow up, outputs, etc, in electronic format and in English | Reports to be produced by December 2027 |
D5.2 | Final report evaluating results of the demonstrative use of non-lead ammunition | ANPC | Report summarising the main results of the actions to promote the usage of non-lead ammunition, and recommendations for a permanent ban, in electronic format and in English | Report to be produced by December 2027 |
Work Package 6: Monitoring and evaluation
Objectives and Expected Results
- Consolidate our understanding of the benefits of Cinereous Vultures for ecosystem functioning and human well-being Monitoring the impact of all project conservation tasks
- Double the breeding population in Portugal from 40 pairs in 4 colonies to at least 80 pairs in at least 5 sites (one new one) Increase the breeding success, currently at 0,38 in Portugal, to 0,5+
- Enhance the connectivity between colonies (also with Spain)
- Improvement of the conservation status of the CV in Portugal – downgrade the national status from Critically Endangered to Endangered by the end of the project. Assess the social-economic impact of all project tasks
| Milestone No | Milestone Name | Lead Beneficiary | Description | Progress |
| MS10 | Tagging of 60 CVs | VCF | Goal to tag 60 Cinereous Vultures – 20 released through soft-release and 40 captured in the wild | All 60 vultures to be equipped with GPS-tags by December 2027 |
| D 6.1 | Ecosystems service study | VCF | Report presenting the results of the study in electronic format | January 2025 |
| D 6.2 | Evaluation of impacts of the project on Cinereous Vulture population size, breeding productivity and viability in Portugal | VCF | Report presenting the results of the impact of the project on the Portuguese population of CV, in electronic format and in English | December 2027 |
| D.6.3 | KPI table | SPEA | Extract of the KPI table produced at the beginning of the project. All in English, and in the LIFE portal | To be produced by June 2023 |
| D.6.4 | Standard Data Forms for PTZPE0039 and PTZPE0037 updated | VCF | SDFs will be updated to include the Cinereous Vulture in section 3.2 of the forms. In English, on the Natura 2000 website and in Portuguese at the ICNF website | To be updated by December 2027 |
| D.6.5 | Socio-economic evaluation report | SPEA | Report presenting the results of the study in electronic format | To be completed by December 2027 |
| D.6.6 | KPI table | SPEA | Extract of the KPI table produced at the end of the project. All in English, and in the LIFE portal | To be produced by December 2027 |
Work Package 7: Sustainability, replication and exploitation of project results
Objectives and expected results
- Strengthen the cooperation between Portugal and Spain regarding the conservation of the Cinereous Vulture, notably at the level of hunters, wildlife rehabilitation centres, competent veterinary authorities and environmental police, through a series of exchange visits and networking that will enhance future collaborations
- Raise awareness of the general public and key-actors (policy-makers, veterinaries, livestock producers, hunters, forest industry, tourism operators and media) about Cinereous Vulture conservation and many of the issues described above. We aim to reach at least 20,000 people with the project website, and have a minimum of 600,000 social media impressions with posts about the project. Several thousand people belonging to a number of targeted stakeholder groups clearly identified will also be further engaged in Cinereous Vulture
- Develop and/or enhance in-country capacity for the sustainable conservation of the Cinereous Vulture and other scavenger species, notably through the mainstreaming of the project outputs, results and best-practice in a number of national strategies and plans (see below for further details).
Milestone No | Milestone Name | Lead Beneficiary | Description | Progress |
| MS11 | Production of the communication tools | VCF | Production of project pins, sticker, T-shirt, vests and roll-ups banners | To be produced and distributed by December 2024 |
| MS12 | Project website and social media channels | VCF | Production of the project website and social media channels | Completed by January 2023 |
| Deliverable No | Deliverable Name | Lead Beneficiary | Description | Progress |
| D7.1 | Documentary film and 2 animation videos | VCF | Films in English will be widely disseminated | Animation videos to be produced by December 2023 Documentary film do be produced by June 2027 |
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