Objectives and project sites

OBJECTIVES

The LIFE FALKON project aims to foster the resilience of the central-eastern European population of lesser kestrel to climate change, by improving the conservation status of Italian and Greek populations breeding at the north-eastern edge of the breeding range.

Specific objectives are to:

• Improve foraging and nesting habitat quality in farmland areas and Natura 2000 sites (SPAs) where the species breeds in the project areas;
• Establish a collaborative international network to support the implementation of conservation actions, population monitoring programmes and knowledge sharing across the central-eastern Mediterranean region, and foster replicability and transferability of project actions in south-eastern Europe;
• Promote public awareness concerning the lesser kestrel and biodiversity conservation in the north-eastern margins of its breeding range, with an emphasis on environmental education;
• Obtain an accurate assessment of the conservation status of those populations that are considered crucial for the species’ northward breeding expansion.

The project directly implements the Birds Directive, by targeting a species that is listed as a conservation priority.

LIFE FALKON intervenes in the following Natura 2000 sites