On 28th November 2017, the opening day of the LIFE Egyptian vulture project was held in Rome – the first meeting for the partners to plan conservation activities.
The meeting, organised by e-distribuzione as the beneficiary coordinator of the project, was divided into an institutional presentation session of the project and a technical session.
The aims and initiatives of the project were illustrated by the Managing Director of e-distribuzione, Gianluigi Fioriti, and Alfonso Sturchio, Italy’s Director of Health Safety Environment and Quality. A representative of each partner then presented the activities and their institution’s role in the project: Corrado Teofili for Federparchi-Europarc Italy, Miguel Ángel Cabrera Peréz for the Government of the Canary Islands, Ramón Gallo Barneto for GESPLAN, Alessandro Andreotti for ISPRA, Marco Laguardia for the Basilicata Region, Giovanni Zaccaria for the Apulia Region and Rogelio Mesa for Endesa.
The technical session, which was conducted by Dr. Elio Aliperti and Dr. Mauro Salvadori of e-distribuzione with the support of Guido Ceccolini and Anna Cenerini from Biodiversità sas, involved about 25 project staff from all beneficiaries. The meeting allowed for the detailed examination of the initiatives envisaged by the project and the role of the beneficiaries in each of them, and for the EC guidelines for the administrative and financial management of the project to be analysed.
In particular, urgent activities to be carried out were discussed: The appointment of the steering committee (made up of one or two members of the staff of each beneficiary) and the appointment of the scientific committee. The latter body, which will help the beneficiaries direct and monitor the activities carried out, will comprise José Antonio Donázar (Doñana Biological Centre, Spanish National Research Council, CSIC, Spain), José Tavares (Vulture Conservation Foundation, Switzerland), Maurizio Sar (University of Palermo, Italy), Ygal Miller (Israel Nature and Parks Authority, Israel) and Antoni Margalida (University of Lleida, Spain).
