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Eco123 Revista da Economia e Ecologia
‘A Rocha’, an organisation that is present in 20 countries (including the UK and the USA) came into being in the Algarve in 1985. It represents the fulfilment of the dream of Peter Harris, an Anglican priest and ornithologist, who decided to include nature conservation as a missionary objective in the church’s social agenda at a time when the environment and its defence were concepts that were little discussed in Portugal. And ‘A Rocha’ continues in the name because its founder and now honorary president speaks of the major contribution made by Portugal to the ‘Latinism’ of the project.
ECO123 talked to Marcial Felgueiras, the organisation’s director of operations and in charge of its involvement in environmental campaigns, as well as the centre’s logistical management, the accommodation of students and researchers of different nationalities and the management of a huge team.
“An Anglican priest, Peter Harris chose his community in England owing to its proximity to an estuary where he could watch the birds. According to him, bird watching done at daybreak helped him to get through the long meetings at work,” Marcial Felgueiras started by telling us. “Then, he noticed that Christians spoke a lot about God the creator but did little about the creation of this God. And he started to think of ways to involve Christians in nature. He had decided to work as a missionary, with Africa in mind; but his passion for nature started to germinate and he asked himself if the missionary organisation they worked for would be able to embrace and link the two components.”
During the first seven or eight years of the organisation, ornithology was the only area where they worked. As there was no habit of bird watching in Portugal, ‘A Rocha’ played a very important role, ringing about 80% of the national total. But the organisation always planned to focus on environmental relationships as a whole, and he established cooperation agreements with other bodies interested in environmental protection. “In the 1990s, we started compiling inventories of plants, we joined the Natura 2000 programme, mapping habitats, we did a study of coleoptera (beetles), and discovered over 200 species. To give an idea, 25% of the planet’s animal life is made up of these animals. Without them we do not know what would happen. A researcher studies at most one family. We have been studying moths for almost 20 years, and have a list of more than 600 species, but we have just discovered two new species in a single night 4 km away.”
They recently succeeded in preventing the destruction of habitats in the Ria de Alvor, but they are apprehensive about the future because there are projects waiting to be approved at Quinta da Rocha, located in the heart of the Ria. If this happens, it will increase the population living in these 2,500 hectares that are part of the Rede Natura (1), from 85 to 400, with cars, dogs, bicycles, rubbish, water consumption, drains etc. Not to mention the infrastructure and increased impervious coverage of the land.
Every Thursday morning from 10 o’clock (when it’s not raining), the centre is open to the public, who can watch the measuring, weighing and ringing of birds captured in strategically placed nets on the property.
Has a degree in Agricultural Engineering from the University of Évora. He has a master’s degree from the same university in the same field, but linked to the environment, deal- ing with irrigation systems. He is now working on his doctorate on the im- pact that changes in land use have had on bird populations. He has published a number of articles in the field of birdlife, many of them devot- ed to bird migration.
