Alonso Miguel announces Action Plan for Conservation of Bats in the Azores - Communication

Secretaria Regional do Ambiente e Ação Climática

The Regional Secretary for the Environment and Climate Change, Alonso Miguel, marked the International Bat Night at Alagoa in Agualva, Terceira Island, as part of the 26th edition of the European awareness campaign. This initiative is promoted by the Secretariat of the EUROBATS Agreement - Agreement on the Conservation of Bats in Europe. 

The government official stated that "this symbolic action included activities on all the islands for the entire population of the archipelago. It aimed to stimulate curiosity and promote the knowledge of Azoreans about these protected species, also seeking to raise awareness for their important ecological role, particularly in terms of insect pest control, as they feed on flying insects such as moths, beetles, mosquitoes and termites."

"The activity consisted of an invitation to listen to bats, through an ultrasound detector, a device that allows us to listen to the sounds emitted by these species. This is an opportunity to identify the behaviour and species detected in the company of nature watchers, who explain the monitoring and protection actions implemented by these professionals in the Azores," he said.

The Regional Secretary explained that "although there are around 1,400 bat species in the world, with 25 species having been identified in Mainland Portugal. In the case of the Azores, only two bat species are known: the Azores bat (Nyctalus azoreum), which is the only mammal endemic to the Azores and whose worldwide distribution is restricted to the Central and Western group islands of the archipelago; the Madeira bat (Pipistrellus maderensis), which is endemic to Madeira, but is also found in the Canary Islands and the Azores, namely on the islands of Flores, Corvo, Pico, São Jorge, Graciosa and Santa Maria. Both species are protected by the Bern Convention, Habitats Directive, Bonn Convention, EUROBATS Agreement as well as by the Legal Framework for Nature Conservation and Biodiversity Protection of the Azores in force in the Region."

According to Alonso Miguel, the census of these species is coordinated by the Regional Directorate for the Environment and Climate Change and the fieldwork is carried out by teams made up of Nature Watchers and technicians from the Environment and Climate Change Services on each island. These teams have received specific training for this purpose, with the aim of monitoring these protected species, whose data are released in the national reports of the Habitats Directive.

"Given the importance of these species and the fact that there are currently no research projects in the Azores in this field, the Regional Secretariat for the Environment and Climate Change, under the LIFE IP Azores Natura project, has a developed project specifically aimed at studying and protecting bats. It will culminate in the preparation of an Action Plan for the Conservation of Bats in the Azores," announced Alonso Miguel.