Government officials are to urgently visit the Algarve’s National Iberian Lynx Breeding Centre (CNRLI), in Silves, as part of an investigation into the decision to sack the expert team that has run the sanctuary over the past 16 years, with great success.
It was revealed that representatives from the Environment Committee of the Assembly of the Republic are set to visit the CNRLI, located in the valleys near the town of Silves, as well as holding parliamentary hearings with both the leadership of the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests (ICNF), which is the body behind the controversial decision to bring the centre’s management in-house, and the current technical team, which, by all indications, is due to be entirely replaced once the decision comes into force.
Initially, the change was expected to take effect as early as Monday. However, following emergency intervention by the Environment Minister, who reportedly expressed concerns over the future of the centre and the welfare of the lynxes in the event of an abrupt transition, various Portuguese publications, such as the Expresso and Público, reported that the ICNF’s Board of Directors had retreated from its original timetable, with the internalisation process now almost certain to be postponed.
On Thursday, 28th May, following a proposal by the Socialist Party’s parliamentary group, the Environment Committee unanimously approved “a visit by the committee to the CNRLI in Silves and hearings with the technical team and the ICNF regarding the intention to internalise the project on 1st June”.
“We believe this objective should be reconsidered and reviewed, particularly as there is no known transition plan for the work currently being carried out, work which represents one of the world’s most successful wildlife recovery projects,” said Luís Graça, Socialist MP for the Algarve constituency. “What works well can always be improved, but it should not be undermined.”
Earlier this month, as soon as the controversy erupted, the Livre party submitted a formal request in Parliament questioning the Environment Minister over the removal of the current team at the National Iberian Lynx Breeding Centre (CNRLI), arguing that the process should be “transparent”.
Politicians from Livre further argued that the process “must be clarified and transparent, since the conservation of the Iberian lynx is not merely a matter of ICNF internal management, but rather a strategic environmental policy, funded with European public money and involving shared responsibility towards Portuguese society and the international community”.
The party also asked the minister how the government intended to ensure that the changes would not jeopardise the success of the Iberian lynx reintroduction programme, whether a transition plan existed, and what would happen to employees of the company that has operated the CNRLI since 2009.
Source: LUSA
