Association Projecto Vitó supports the implementation and management of the Fogo Biosphere Reserve in Cape Verde, designated by UNESCO in 2020.
Association Projecto Vitó is one of the main environmental NGOs in Cape Verde. Founded in 2010, the organisation has been working for the conservation of the marine, coastal and terrestrial natural resources of the islands. The NGO is based on Fogo Island, south of Cape Verde, but is active at a national level developing conservation action on six of the archipelago’s ten islands.
With this project, the organisation aims to promote the conservation of endangered tree and shrub, to support the management of protected areas, and to facilitate the implementation of the sites recently declared Biosphere Reserves by UNESCO in Cape Verde.
Fogo was declared in 2020 as one of the first two UNESCO Biosphere Reserves in Cape Verde. However, until now few actions have been taken to make it effective. One of the key components of the project is to support the government authorities in the implementation of the Fogo biosphere reserves through communication actions and management tools.
The project activities are implemented in six islands: Santo Antão, São Vicente, São Nicolau, Santiago, Fogo and Brava. The project will act on two of the endemic tree species listed in the IUCN red list – Dracaena draco (VU) and Sideroxylon marginatum (EN). Moreover, conservation actions will include more than 50 shrub species endemic to Cape Verde.
The main proposed actions are the inventory of all populations of the two tree species on the island's with the greatest distribution; the implementation of the monitoring plan for flora of the Natural Park of Fogo; the continued monitoring and inventory actions of endemic shrub on the island of Fogo and Brava; the production of plants in community nurseries for reforestation to promote the recovery of degraded areas on the island of Fogo and Brava; awareness raising and technical capacity building of the monitoring and research team.
