The Desertas Islands Nature Reserve received the European Certificate of Protected Areas from the Council of Europe
A Natural Reserve since 1995, in early September the Desertas islands received the European Certificate of Protected Areas from the Council of Europe, an award that attests to the recovery and protection work in the area over the past few decades. This certificate is in addition to another, that of Biogenetic Reserve from the Council of Europe, received in 1992. The European Certificate has a validity of 5 years and since 1965 has been awarded to 73 protected areas spread across 29 European countries.
Currently it covers a wide range of geographical areas stretching from Fair Island, in the Shetland Islands (northeast of Scotland), to Teberda National Park, in the Russian Caucasus.
The Desertas Islands Nature Reserve has a total area of 12,586 hectares and is the place where several protected species of the Madeiran fauna have found refuge: the Monk Seal and various birds, such as the Feas's Petrel and the Bulwer's petrel.