The Institute for the Prevention and Investigation of Aeronautical and Maritime Accidents (IPIAAM), together with the partner institutions, inform that on March 11 (Friday), in the CIP room of Praia International Airport - Nelson Mandela (AIDPNM), took place the launch of Bird Safe, a flight safety and life protection program and, whose ceremony was presided over by Your Excellency, the Minister of Tourism and Transport, Dr. Carlos Santos.

The increased risk that the frequent presence of animal life in the airport environment represents for operational safety in the civil aviation sector, increasing the occurrence of bird strikes and, the increase registered in recent years, in particular in the AIDPNM, constitute a significant threat to flight safety and endanger animal life and the lives of all passengers.

Aware of the bird strike phenomenon and its consequences, civil aviation sector institutions (IPIAAM, AAC, ASA, Cabo Verde Airlines, Bestfly Cabo Verde), municipal and state entities (CMP, MTT, MAA), non-governmental organizations (Biosphere), associations, social and community activists joined in this initiative, with the common purpose of preventing, alerting and sensitizing the general population on this issue and, above all, promoting a change in behavior within the communities surrounding national airports.

For this purpose, an inter-institutional working group was created which, after the first meetings held, outlined an action plan, which will last for one year and which aims to develop and implement a set of actions, within the scope of Bird Safe, to achieve more effective and far-reaching results.

Knowing that one of the main tasks of IPIAAM, as the national authority responsible for the prevention and investigation of aeronautical and maritime accidents, is to promote a safety culture that is transversal and consciously practiced by all professionals in the systems of each of the sectors which the BirdSafe program covers, is configured as one of the actions that should contribute to the awareness of the population and institutions, regarding the prevention of incidents and, therefore, enable the consolidation of operational safety.