REN, FCT and Oporto University create Chair in Biodiversity

REN, together with the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and Oporto University  (UP) created a Chair in Biodiversity, to be given in UP. The partnership between REN, FCT and the CIBIO-INBio (Research Centre in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources at the University of Porto) reflects the commitment and efforts of three entities in this regard.

The Chair is based on three pillars: monitoring, minimize and offset impacts; population ecology and citizenship in science. The first will develop research in the field of evaluation, monitoring, minimize and offset impacts of energy transport networks on biodiversity, with particular attention to the power lines.

The second pillar is devoted to the analysis of demographic responses of species subject to unnatural death, a study in the future may help to define the circumstances in which they should make significant efforts to minimize or offset, and where to direct those efforts.

The third pillar focuses on citizenship projects in science (Citizen Science), a trend in the international growth but with an expression still relatively low in Portugal. These projects have the dual purpose of raising awareness of the importance of scientific activity, through their involvement in concrete initiatives, and allow the collection of relatively simple but useful data that would be difficult or very expensive to gather by conventional processes.

On the other hand, the Chair REN Biodiversity will allow systematize and disseminate the work done: identify impacts on biodiversity; assess risks and take mitigation measures; promoting activities with positive impacts; integrating biodiversity into business activity and support conservation initiatives of nature.

To João Faria Conceição, Executive Director of the REN, 'this partnership reflects REN's commitment to sustainable development, reconciling its activity as a reference company in the transportation of energy, with environmental protection, thus promoting the development and well-being of communities and the country'.