Conservation of marine ecosystems around Santo Antão, Cabo Verde: implications for policy and society.
COAST is the short form of COnservation of mArine ecosystems around Santo AnTão, Cabo Verde. This project is expected to run for 36 months and it is embedded under the BIODIVERSA Call for transnational research projects on “Conservation and restoration of degraded ecosystems and their biodiversity, including a focus on aquatic systems”.
NEWS
The Republic of Cabo Verde is an African archipelago, which depends largely on marine resources. Their coastal areas ensure human wellbeing through resources availability (e.g. food) and jobs. However, coastal regions in Cabo Verde are highly exposed to natural hazards and to multiple pressures associated with anthropogenic activities, including reclamation of wetlands for agriculture, water contamination and plastic pollution. They are, thus, in an enormous need for sustainable development of activity sectors linked to the sea.
COAST will evaluate the vulnerability of the studied marine communities and create pilot conservation and restoration actions for selected degraded ecosystems, to increase their resilience. The project will provide multidisciplinary understanding about the biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, as well as suitable indicators of recovery, which is the crucial basis to establish sound conservation or restoration measures. These are the pillars upon which conservation and restoration are to be built, allowing for implementation of integrated environmental management actions based on the best scientific knowledge.
COAST will focus on assessing different biodiversity dimensions in relation to the functioning of Santo Antão marine ecosystems.
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This research was funded through the 2020-2021 Biodiversa and Water JPI joint call for research projects, under the BiodivRestore ERA-NET Cofund (GA N°101003777), with the EU and the following funding organisations : Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR), France; German Research Foundation (DFG) ,Germany; Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), Portugal; Fundo Regional para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FRCT), Portugal-Azores and State Research Agency (AEI), Spain.
