Matala - Researchers from the Centre for Biodiversity Studies at the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom (UK) and Researchers from the Education Centre of the Higher Institute of Educational Sciences of Huíla (ISCED) have begun making biomass assessment, carbon sequestration and infrastructure modernisation in Bicuar National Park.
The project, worth around USD 158,000, is funded by the United States Smithsonian Institute. It part of an international initiative named Geo-Tree, focused on collecting vegetation data in dry forests in the tropics around the world through permanent endowments.
According to the researcher José Luís, a member of the group, the University of Edinburgh and ISCED-Huíla started last week to install cameras and technological equipment in some plots of 1,000 square metres aiming to register and control the types of disruption that influences the biodiversity of the natural reserve.
The project has been developed by the Centre for the Study of Biodiversity and Environmental Education (CEBEA) in partnership with the University of Edinburgh and Mandume Ya Ndemufayo University, for one year.
The focus is to collect data to benefit interested people both in Angola as well as other territories, based on the collected areas, called Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) over Bicuar National Park, with the aim of estimating above-ground carbon stocks and describing spatial variation in vegetation structure.
The official informed that the second part of the project includes rehabilitating the infrastructure of the park's main camp with the aim of improving accommodation for supervisors, guests and research tourists, taking into account its landscape and biodiversity potential.
The Bicuar National Park is located in the southeast region of the country in the Huíla Plateau and set in 1938 with a hunting reserve. It became a national park in 1964.
The relief of the park is dominated by sandy hills with a shrubby character and a semi-arid tropical climate. Previously it had an area estimated at about 7.900 square kilometres.
Currently the natural park has approximately 6.750 square kilometres taking into account a colonial decree that established areas to the north of the park for the expansion of the Capelongo Colony.
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