SEO BirdLife manages since 2000 the Riet Vell Nature Reserve, a natural space of high ecological value with a total of 57 ha. The reserve, which includes rice paddies and natural areas, forms part of the Natura 2000 Network. These habitats are responsible for mitigating the effects of climate change.

For more than 15 years, SEO BirdLife has developed in Riet Vell a volunteer project for young Europeans, much of the Germans (30%), where they enjoy nature and, at the same time, they learn how to minimize their negative impacts on the environment, the inhabitants of the delta, and on their own volunteer work. The volunteers live their experience in the middle of a place of high ornithological and natural value and inhabit the Home of the Volunteers, an old house built in 1940, located 100m from the observatory and the natural areas, where they can easily observe the aquatic birdlife that characterizes this valuable ecosystem.

After the storm Gloria January 2020, the volunteers have been temporarily evicted from their Home as the old facilities were affected (infiltrations and floods in the house, damage to the heating and sanitation system, damage to the façade and exterior pergola, the falling of some trees) and the living conditions were not the best ones. Actually, after some basic arrangements, the volunteers have returned to spend the summer in reserve, but some actions are still missing to ensure the ideal conditions to house them during the winter.

The project's aim supported by the VGP Foundation is, therefore, the restoration of the volunteer house in Riet Vell Nature Reserve. This rehabilitation would consist of changing part of the roof, fixing the exterior walls, improving the sewerage and the heating system, basically improving the living conditions of the European volunteers, most of whom stay for a long period of time (12 months).

Photos © SEO BirdLife