Agreement on the Life Perdix project to involve the park network in the recovery of the extinct species in nature

Yesterday, 28 November 2023, Federparchi and the Forestry, Environmental and Agri-Food Unit Command of the Carabinieri signed an operational agreement to encourage and promote the involvement and active participation of the Italian network of protected areas for the purpose of returning the Italic partridge to the wild, especially Italian endemic, as part of the LIFE PERDIX project, of which ISPRA is the lead partner and the CUFAA is the beneficiary partner. The agreement was signed at the General Headquarters in Rome in the presence of the Carabinieri General Commander CUFAA Gen. Army Corps Andrea Rispoli and the president of Federparchi Luca Santini.

Federparchi will promote a coordination activity between all the managing bodies of Italian protected areas aimed at planning and carrying out feasibility studies and related implementation, for the reintroduction of the Italian partridge (Perdix perdix italica), currently declared extinct in the wild throughout the territory national. The CUFAA, which manages the Wildlife Center of Bieri (LU) dedicated to the Italic Partridge, will provide selected individuals with certificates from ISPRA. These individuals will be allocated to the managing bodies of the protected areas involved by Federparchi for the development of the operational plan for the reintroduction of the Italian partridge into Italian protected areas.

“The Life Perdix project is a further step forward in the collaboration between Federparchi and the Forestry Carabinieri. – commented with satisfaction the president of Federparchi, Luca Santini – CUFAA play an extremely important role for protected areas, not only for their supervisory functions, but also for the many activities of monitoring biodiversity and active management for the conservation of nature. With them we are setting out to recover another piece of the environmental and cultural heritage of the area.”

Federparchi, in agreement with CUFAA and with the support of ISPRA (lead partner of the LIFE PERDIX project), also undertakes to promote issues relating to ecological importance and value at the Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security , as part of initiatives for the conservation of agroecosystems, of the return to nature of the Italian partridge as an endemic taxon and essential component of Italian biodiversity.