LIFE PowerLines4Birds

Website: www.lifepowerlines4birds.lpn.pt

The “LIFE PowerLines4birds - Reducing the impact of power lines to improve the conservation of threatened birds in the Iberian Peninsula” project, funded by the European Union (EU) LIFE Program, aims to reduce the impact of power lines by electrocution and collision for 7 priority bird species that are highly vulnerable to this threat: Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus), Iberian Imperial Eagle (Aquila adalberti), Black Vulture (Aegypius monachus), Great Bustard (Otis tarda), Little Bustard (Tetrax tetrax), Montagu’s Harrier (Circus pygargus) and European Roller (Coracias garrulus).

Several studies clearly show that power lines represent a risk of collision and electrocution for birds.

Portugal and Spain share this reality, including in the Special Protection Areas for birds (SPAs) of the Natura 2000 network, where power lines represent an important cause of non-natural mortality for several threatened bird species.

This project will be ongoing until April 2027 and is funded by the EU in more than 4 million euros. This project is led by Liga para a Protecção da Natureza (LPN), and brings together, as partners, Sociedade Portuguesa para o Estudo das Aves (SPEA), QUERCUS, Sociedad Española de Ornitología (SEO) and E-REDES - Distribuição de Eletricidade SA (E-REDES). It also has the collaboration of ICNF - Instituto da Conservação da Natureza e das Florestas.

To ensure the goal of long term reduction of the impact of power lines by electrocution and collision for the seven target-species, the following objectives have been defined:

• Ensure safe breeding and feeding areas with less dangerous interactions with power lines;
• Promote a significant reduction in bird mortality due to interaction with power lines in Natura 2000 SPAs and adjacent areas, through wider implementation of existing good practices;
• Test new methodologies to improve the effectiveness of bird mortality mitigation measures, which can then be applied to new high-voltage power lines nationwide;
• Increase the ability to identify and predict mortality hotspots in power lines;
• Promote training within electricity companies and government agencies and increase incident reporting by professionals;
• Improve the governance and sustainability of the network to enhance nature conservation and biodiversity protection;
• Promote networking with other projects, thus combining conservation efforts with other projects that are working on this and other conservation threats to the targeted bird species.

The project will also contribute to increase the distribution area and breeding success of the European Roller (Coracias garrulus) by installing nest boxes on anti-electrocution supports in the power grid.

This project will substantially increase safe breeding and feeding areas, reducing the risk of bird mortality due to power lines in 23 transboundary SPAs (14PT+9SP), thus helping to provide better survival conditions and improve populations of these species on the Iberian Peninsula.

It will also promote governance by bringing together relevant stakeholders to discuss and improve regulations and best practices, replicable to other companies and countries.

This project is a step forward in mitigating the impact of power lines on birds for both countries (Portugal and Spain), updating the knowledge of stakeholders to improve the sustainability and management of the Natura 2000 network.

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ASSOCIATED BENEFICIARIES

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