Project RECAP

1) Define conservation priorities with stakeholders through regional participatory processes.

2) Integrate and update biodiversity databases including occurrence, abundance, functional diversity and phylogenies.

3) Model species distributions, ecosystem services, and threat patterns using multivariate approaches and Bayesian models.

4) Propose new limits and ecological corridors through spatial optimization (Marxan), reinforcing the effectiveness and resilience of the archipelago's network of protected areas.

RECAP is 100% financed by the State Budget, through the Foundation for Science and Technology, is a project dedicated to redesigning and strengthening the network of protected areas in the Azores, integrating more than 20 years of biodiversity data with advanced methods of ecological modeling and spatial planning. Combining science, technology and stakeholder participation, the project develops an adaptive conservation framework capable of responding to environmental changes and the requirements of the EU Nature Restoration Act. RECAP will produce high-resolution maps of biodiversity, threats and land use, proposing management solutions that reconcile ecological integrity, socioeconomic viability and collaborative governance.