IN THE EUROPEAN MINK CONSERVATION

Víctor Ortega

Víctor Ortega is a young photographer born in Madrid (Spain) where develops the majority of his photographic wildlife projects. He studied Biology in the Complutense University of Madrid and he’s specialist in wildlife conservation. From an early age he knew that the animals were his passion and he wanted to dedicate his life to them.

Four years ago the LIFE Lutreola Espanha project was born and aims to preserve the European Mink along with the Foundation for Research on Ethology and Biodiversity (FIEB), they are trying to get back this species through breeding in a captivity. Besides that, a great divulging is being achieved through Víctor’s photographs in order to raise awareness to the delicate situation of this shy species that recently was declared as “Critically Endangered” in Spain by IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature). We can’t forget that the European Mink is a true bioindicator to the health of our rivers and it’s truly a jewel we can’t lose.

HAKUNA MATATA TO ETERNIZALIZE MOMENTS

Nuno Silva

Nuno Silva was born in Vila Real in 1978. Since 2012 his passion for nature and photography has grown and it led him to participate in various workshops related to fauna, flora and biodiversity, revealing since then the peculiar taste for birds photography.

This year he made a trip that he dreamt to achieve on day: to know African continent and walk through the savannah looking for species which are slowly disappearing from our planet. He left Trás-os-Montes to look for something charming with a routed map, he crossed two continents until Tanzania! The country has a great concern for the conservation of nature and species. With the goal to see “TheBigFive” from Africa, he got to see four: the lion, the leopard, the buffalo and the elephant, only missing to see the rhino.
He wandered through the Lake Manyara, circled the Ngorongoro Crater, which is 19km in diameter and is “also considered the Noah’s Ark of East Africa because it’s the house of almost all animal species in that region integrated into an ecosystem that has not yet been found and affected by the hand of man.” And he got lost in the Serengeti National Park, which means “endless plain”, recognized as a world heritage site by Unesco!

GALAPAGOS – IN DARWIN’S FOOTSTEPS

Luís Ferreira

Luís Ferreira was born in March 14, 1982 and since he was little confronted with the fact of belonging to a family of travelers and adventurers. The search of the relation that creates with the beings that photographs, it helps him make a bridge between man and nature to aware the society in respect to the species conservation and valorization. He has been a usual collaborator of National Geographic Portugal and it’s usual to find him giving conferences in the more highly regarded Festivals related with Nature in Portugal.

In this conference will go along a trip that goes through more than five islands in search of the biggest rarities of the physical evidences of the Darwinian theories. In Espanola Island it was possible to see the albatrosses during courtship, the distinct Northern gannets already with chicks and swim freely with the sea lions. In Santa Cruz he could differentiate the Galapagos tortoises’ shells of this island as more rounded than the one’s in Isabella Island where the volcanology is still active today changes the behaviors and diet of this species. It was still in North Seymour Island that he observed the more special in all archipelagos the Galapagos land iguana, it specialized in only eating just cactus that gives it the yellow color, unique of the archipelagos.

SHOOTING FOXES – THE COMPASSIONATE WAY

Matthew Maran

Since 2000 that Matthew Maran travels the world winning awards like “Wildlife Photographer of the Year”, “European Wildlife Photographer of the Year” and the “British Wildlife Photography Awards” for its photography of landscapes and wildlife. His animal photographs vary since apes from Southeast Asia until the urban foxes near his house. His landscape photographs cover many lands – alkaline lakes, glaciar rivers and primeval forests. His work has been published in books worldwide, conservation journals and magazines including the BBC WildLife, NationalGeographic and Outdoor Photography.

In Matthew’s hometown, in London, England, lives a very familiar animal, the Red Fox. It’s not an endangered species, but Matthew sees it as a starting point to educate people about wildlife in its own backyards. Many people see foxes as worms, pests or problems. His experiences are contrary to that – he photographed a fox family in the last two years and it’s his mission through these images to show the sensitive side of fox, an animal like us that needs shelter, food and water. It’s an animal that lives with the people in cities in Europe and survives against all odds. If we want that people concern about the wildlife in other parts of the world we also need to pay attention to what it’s around us and treat them with the same care and respect that we would treat an elephant, ape, cat or human.

THE IMAGE IN BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION
by the technical team of the Environmental Services of the City Council of Vila Real

Who is better than the people who are here to underline the role of the evolution of nature image in our region?! This session, with the technical team of the Environmental Services, intends to highlight the dedicated work to the promotion and divulging of the Natural Heritage of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro. It’s a space that shows the importance of raising awareness to the natural values, through image, in which we have been betting and whose results we see reflected in the developed projects, affirming Vila Real as: The Biodiversity Destiny.