Three experiences developed at the Barcelona-El Prat Airport and in Costa Rica were presented by MINUARTIA and UB together with Barcelona airport, Acciona and DG de Aviación Civil from Costa Rica. The conference was held in México City, between 21 and 24 of this month, and was jointly organized by International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the World Birdstrike Association (WBA) and the CARSAMPAF (the regional committee on the matter from Central and South America and the Caribbean).
The conference had more than 150 attendees from worldwide and 60 oral communications were done (available here). Those presentations showed experiences applied in a large number of airports from the participant countries and some issues concerning international or regional current regulations were discussed, among other themes.
One of the most interesting results emerged from the conference was the agreement to create regional committees of the WBA. The mission of these committees will be to act as the link between regional experts and regulators, in order to include existing knowledge on effective measures, monitoring indicators, etc. to the regulation and recommended practices. Teams for the establishment of WFA-Africa, WBA-Middle East and WBA-Europe were created. Minuartia, through the person of Ferran Navàs, is part of the last of these teams.
Two of the communications presented by Minuartia were related to the works that the company is doing at Barcelona-El Prat Airport since 2004: a trial with different grass compositions (including plants with endophyte fungus that repels insects and birds), to determine which of them attracts less birds, and an analysis on the role of migrating birds in strikes with aircrafts at this airport and on the usefulness of citizen science. The third communication showed an example of how wildlife conflicts can be addressed during the infrastructure planning process. This communication was based in the writing of the Wildlife hazard prevention programme done within the frame of the environmental evaluation process of an airport to be built in the south part of Costa Rica.
