The foundation announced that the funding will assist organizations including Associação Vita Nativa – Conservação do Ambiente (Faro), Liga para a Proteção da Natureza (Lisboa), Associação Transumância e Natureza (Figueira de Castelo Rodrigo), ARIP – Associação Rewilding Iberia PT (Guarda), ALMARGEM – Associação de Defesa do Património Cultural e Ambiental do Algarve (Loulé), MONTIS – Associação para a Gestão e Conservação da Natureza (Vouzela), MILVOZ – Associação de Proteção e Conservação da Natureza (Coimbra), and TAGIS – Centro de Conservação das Borboletas de Portugal (Avis).
The non-governmental environmental organizations, focused on “ecological restoration and sustainable ecosystem management, contributing to reversing environmental degradation and biodiversity decline,” were chosen through a competition within the scope of the Gulbenkian’s Equity & Sustainability Program.
The competition received 67 applications, and the selected organizations “will also benefit from a capacity-building program in management, fundraising, and communication areas.”
“This support provides organizations with greater capacity and autonomy in managing their resources, as well as increased financial and operational stability, enabling them to sustainably continue their nature conservation and ecosystem protection activities, making a real impact,” emphasized Luís Jerónimo, director of the Equity and Sustainability Program at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, as quoted in the statement.
According to the foundation, more than half of the existing habitats in Portugal are showing signs of deterioration, and the work of preserving and regenerating ecosystems “is largely ensured by environmental associations” that “face significant challenges, hindering the maintenance and replication of their interventions.”
The World Nature Conservation Day, observed today, was created by the United Nations General Assembly in 1988, with the national day established in Portugal 10 years later to, according to the Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests, “honor the environmental protection movement through one of its most prestigious institutions, the Liga para a Proteção da Natureza,” one of the NGOs that will receive Gulbenkian funding.
