Evaluating an important biodiversity area in Gibraltar: Windmill Hill Flats | Darwin Plus Local Scheme

Research Project

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Research Project Overview

Minister for the Environment, Sustainability, Climate Change, Heritage and Culture, Dr John Cortes, opened the first community of practice meetings (16th and 17th May 2023) for the “Evaluating an important biodiversity area in Gibraltar: Windmill Hill Flats” project. The project is funded by the UK Government’s Darwin Plus Local scheme, which aims to protect unique biodiversity and improve resilience to climate change in the UK Overseas Territories.

Windmill Hill Flats is a conservation area in Gibraltar and a Special Area of Conservation under the EU Habitats Directive. The project aims to assess the state of key biodiversity elements and the pressures affecting them, propose management responses, and evaluate the prospects of re-establishing lost species.

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The meetings will bring together experts to present what is known about the biodiversity and current pressures affecting Windmill Hill Flats, and will use a clear framework, pressure-state-response (PSR) model, to organise data and information and guide the selection of indicators needed to answer site and species management questions. The output will be a full report of the findings, which will be distributed to all participants.

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In-Territory Partners

  • HM Department of Environment, Sustainability, Climate Change and Heritage (DESCCH), Gibraltar. University Associate Campus.
  • Gibraltar Botanic Gardens (GBG), Gibraltar. University Associate Campus.
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In-territory NGOs

  • Gibraltar Ornithological & Natural History Society (GONHS), NGO, Gibraltar.
  • Save Gibraltar Street Cats (SGSC), NGO, Gibraltar.
  • The Environmental Safety Group (ESG), NGO, Gibraltar.
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International Collaborators

  • Biogeography, Diversity and Conservation Group, University of Malaga, Spain
  • Prof James Russell, Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, New Zealand
  • Prof Luca Luiselli, Università degli Studi Roma Tre, Rome, Italy/ Rivers State University of Science and Technology: Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria