Leica x TENT Ambassador: Pedro Prata, Team Leader of Rewilding Portugal

At Leica, we are committed to those working at the frontlines of nature recovery and conservation in Europe. In collaboration with The European Nature Trust, we have launched an ambassadorship programme, that supports conservation champions who are working to revive ecosystems across Europe.
Working with a partnership of local and regional NGOs, universities and public groups, Rewilding Portugal aims to create a 120,000 hectare corridor for Iberian wildlife in the Côa Valley, where natural processes shape the condition of the landscape. In many ways, it is a perfect environment for the challenge: the Côa Valley sits in a key region of the Iberian Peninsula, where river gorges cut their path through granite-cobbled mountainsides; where oak trees and chestnuts dot the sun-strewn bluffs; and where between the Douro river and the Malcata Mountain range, the visceral howl of the Iberian wolf might be heard at any moment.
Pedro and his team at Rewilding Portugal have identified an unprecedented opportunity to reverse an ecological and economic decline that has taken root in the region. Rewilding Portugal’s strategy is to purchase abandoned and marginal lands in the Côa Valley, using private and public funds from the Arcadia Foundation’s Endangered Landscapes Programme (ELP). They are working to reinstall grazing to the ecosystem - using controlled releases of wild and semi-wild herbivores - which will graze and diversify the vegetation, creating a lattice of more fire-resistant vegetational structures. ‘It’s about bringing back all these natural processes,’ says Pedro. ‘In time, that will bolster the numbers of wild prey for the Iberian wolf and lynx, and create a system capable of self-regulation again.’
Pedro uses the Leica Noctivid 10x42 and Leica APO-Televid 82 (angled view)
‘Leica optics are second to none in terms of quality, which is really important for conservation work. At Rewilding Portugal, our teams and partners spend long periods of time out in the field carrying out monitoring and research work - having good quality observation tools makes it much easier. My equipment is like an eagle eye to spot wildlife everywhere I go and so far there’s none better than Leica.’
Learn more about Pedro and the work of Rewilding Portugal here: leica-camera.c...
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