The Government of the Azores announced on Friday the approval of a proposal for the creation of the Flores Island Natural Park, “a space with special landscape, natural and geological interest that has long claimed the respective integration in the Regional Network of Protected Areas.”
When presenting the conclusions of the last meeting of the Council of the Government, held on Flores this week, the Regional Secretary of the Presidency added that the new natural park will comprise the partial natural forest reserves such as Caldeira Funda, Caldeira Rasa, Ferraria, Morro Alto and Pico da Sé.
“These areas were given full prominence, being integrated in a set that comprises an area covering the island’s central area which, in turn, is linked to the north coast by an ecological corridor, the Tapada da Enforcada,” added André Bradford,
In this context, the natural monument of Rocha dos Bordões which, despite being included in the Natura 2000 Network, “lacked the necessary emphasis and a special protection status.”
The Regional Secretary also stated that this proposal also includes the classification, in “clearly innovative option,” of Important Bird Areas (IBA), designated by Bird Life International, an “international body whose action is acknowledged worldwide as extremely important in the establishment of partnerships that aim to develop measures to protect birds and their habitats.”
According to the Government, the future Flores Island Natural Park is “a coherent and integrated unit, guided by management and preservation goals which comprise spaces with specific skills for the conservation of nature, landscape and the natural resources, based on scientific classification criteria as well as on international, national, regional and local guidelines.”