RC Silves welcomes Dirk Smeton  as a new member. Having recently made a new home in the Algarve and already participated in some fundraising. He is looking forward to working with new friends to benefit the local community. President Rainer Kroth congratulated Dirk at a rotary meeting and presented his pin.

Sue Butler-Cole gave a 30-minute talk about this Amazonian Forest Project the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project (BDFFP) where she had worked from late 1979 until early 1982. It was originally called the Minimum Critical Size of Ecosystems. This project was to identify the minimum critical size of a forest reserve so that there would be no loss of species.  In the 1970’s there was a very ambitious Brazilian Government program of national park development in Amazonia, but the big question was whether these new parks were going to be large enough to protect all the species within them. In 1977 Dr. Thomas E. Lovejoy learned about the law stipulating that 50% of land purchased from the Government had to be left intact. He came up with a plan to isolate various sized forest reserves starting with 1 hectare up to 1,000 hectares and study the rate of species loss due to their isolation.  In 1979 the WWF and the Brazilian National Institute for Amazon Research (INPA) set up the BDFFP project with the intention of finding answers to the debate about single large or several small reserves (SLOSS). After 45 years the project is still going strong because long term data statistics are so valuable and make it possible to answer questions which were not part of the original project design. To date the project has produced 140 PhD & Masters graduates (of which more than half are Brazilian) plus an enormous number of scientific publications.

See Wikipedia regarding:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SLOSS_debate

Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_Dynamics_of_Forest_Fragments_Project

Our first meeting this Rotary year took place at the Convento Bio in Lagoa. A suitable venue for Silves Rotary Club as we add a new project to our agenda this year. Our Speaker Sónia Soares, a biologist, and a nature lover, with a master’s degree in ecology and environmental management is the face of the project “FlorestaNativa” and oversees a small Miyawaki forest in the Algarve. Sonia had a lot to tell us about her project and is interested in working with us to fulfill our goal this year of planting small forests or gardens to protect the environment and provide green spaces for the community.

Members and guests were excited by her ideas and a ready to work with her to make this project a success.

Ringing the bell for first time this year                            Fátima Guerreiro, Otelo Cabrita, Rainer and Sónia Soares

Friends from  IRC Almancil  Franco Pasotto                                                               Members Alan and Pam with Sian Elton

Maike with Nicole Lanier and Remy and Isabelle Roux                  Albrecht, Angelika & guest Carla Pita RC Portimao

RC Silves welcomes new members Judy Falçao and Terry Falçao. Newly resident in the Algarve they have found friends and colleagues in the Rotary. We look forward to more fun, fellowship and fundraising with them on the team. Left to Right Pam Winn, Judy Falçao, Alan Winn, Isabel Flores and Terry Falçao.

Wilma Bijhoo receives a well-deserved honour of a Paul Harris certificate. Bram her husband was a former member of RC Silves. He gave a lot to the community of Silves and the Algarve. Bram died unexpectedly and Wilma took up his mantle and the community has benefited from her contributions ever since. RC Silves is honoured to have her as a member.