Cristina Hodgson
FUENGIROLA’S Bioparc has allocated over €28,000 to biodiversity conservation projects.
The money comes from commercial actions such as BIOdias or the annual pass campaign, where one euro per pass purchased is allocated to the Bioparc Foundation.
This allows visitors and members of the Bioparc community to be directly involved in conservation programmes through the Bioparc Foundation.
The popular Costa del Sol park currently participates in more than 20 international programs for the conservation of animal species.
The zoo, originally opened in 1978 and renovated in 1999, contributed more than €28,000 to the development of biodiversity conservation projects around the world throughout 2019.
One of the most important international conservation projects is the Sabangau project, a project run by the Borneo Nature Foundation, to which the Bioparc Foundation has collaborated with since 2013.
The Sabangau forest houses the world ‘s largest population of orangutans in the wild and this project aims to restore the critical situation of the forest.
Bioparc also collaborates in a conservation project on the island of Borneo.
There forest destruction caused by large fires is an ongoing problem.
2015 saw one of the worst years of forest destruction because of fires, many intentionally started by palm oil producers.
In 2019 they burned more than 6,000km, leaving thousands of orangutans homeless.
The objective of the Borneo Nature Foundation, together with the collaboration of Bioparc, is to minimise these fires, for this 25 wells have been installed permitting immediate access to water if and when needed.
For this year, 2020, the Borneo Nature Foundation has established as one of its main objectives the implementation of new equipments to fight the fires and to continue the plan of reforestation of up to one million trees, to recover the areas which have been burnt and thus extend the natural habitat of the orangutans.
In addition the foundation aims to promote and educate the local community to the correct use of fires so as not to put at risk the life of this endangered animal species.
Ultimately, the BIOPARC Foundation, by keeping animals in captivity aims to provide a direct benefit to the populations of these species in their natural environment.
