The Government of the Azores and Nature Returns just published the pilot Management Plan for the Pico Island Nature Park, which allowed describing the priority natural values to be managed, analyzing and ranking the threats and pressures that can be reverted by businesses, defining the main activities to be held until 2030 and setting up the monitoring program that will be used for assessing the success of the plan and supporting an adaptive management process.
The Pico Island Nature Park (PNIP) is the largest natural park in the Azores, comprising 22 protected areas that cover about 35% of its land surface, which corresponds to about 156 sq km. In addition to the natural habitats and endemic species that are characteristic of the island, this Park includes the UNESCO World Heritage site with the Pico Vineyard Landscape and is dominated by the highest mountain of Portugal, emerging from the sea up to 2351 meters.
This plan has been prepared by using the Conservation Standards as an international standard with increasing use, which promotes an adaptive management approach for the maximum possible impact on nature conservation, whether of sites or species. This management plan is a pilot experience in the application of Conservation Standards, to consider the adoption of this methodology in the future review of the existing Management Plans at the Azores regional level.
The plan uses this methodology for integrating the new Nature Returns approach to add to the management of protected areas the promotion and inclusion of entrepreneurial businesses, which can contribute to reversing existing threats and ensure management, seeking mutual benefits for the managers of the area (who thus save human and financial resources to ensure management), for entrepreneurs (who have an opportunity for their innovative businesses), and for local communities (who gain employment opportunities at the local level).
The plan was developed by a dedicated team of different agencies of the Government of the Azores, namely the Regional Secretariat for Environment and Climate Action and the Regional Directorate for Maritime Policies, with the facilitation of Nature Returns, whose aspirations are reflected in the Vision: “To conserve and promote the natural and cultural values of the Pico Island Natural Park, in a compatible way, perpetuating this source of wealth and pride for local populations and future generations.”
Fourteen current or potential threats affecting the 7 central natural values of the area have been identified and evaluated; these are now the priorities for calling entrepreneurs to propose innovative businesses that can revert those threats to the PNIP. The plan includes a detailed monitoring program with indicators that allow assessing whether the plan is reaching the expected impact and management objectives and will have an adaptive management process to review and improve the plan every year until 2030. For more information about the plan, please get in touch with Vanda Serpa, director of the PNIP, at vanda.serpa@azores.gov.pt.
