The Regional Government has submitted an application to the European Commission regarding the project LIFE SNAILS - Support and Naturalisation in Areas of Importance for Land Snails, which includes an investment of two million Euros to be carried out in five years, from 2022 to 2026, on the island of Santa Maria.
The project that now applied for funding from the LIFE - Environment and Climate Action programme aims to implement a series of actions aimed at the conservation of a group of molluscs that are endemic to the island of Santa Maria, which are considered critically endangered according to the red lists of IUCN - International Union for Conservation of Nature. This initiative will improve the existing habitat, contributing to the recovery of the populations of the target species in the medium term.
In this context, the LIFE SNAILS project proposes a habitat restoration work, including the control of invasive species and the planting of endemic flora, as well as to promote good practices and pilot solutions to increase habitats in privately-owned land. It will include a support scheme for landowners with a view to installing shelter curtains with hedges in agricultural areas, thereby integrating biodiversity into production processes and overcoming habitat loss and fragmentation.
Coordinated by the Regional Directorate for the Environment, the LIFE SNAILS project also includes the Regional Directorate for Forest Resources, AZORINA - Azorina - Society for Environmental Management and Nature Conservation and the company Desafio das Letras.
The Regional Government currently has three LIFE projects under way in the archipelago in the areas of nature conservation, corresponding to an overall investment of 22.7 million Euros.