Speaking to Lusa, João Alves, from the Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests (ICNF), explained that the initiative - integrated into the LIFE Lynxconnect project - brings together Infraestruturas de Portugal (IP) and the Waze platform, to minimize the number of lynx being run over on the roads, one of the main factors in this species' mortality due to human causes.

For now, the system is in operation on National Roads (EN) 122 and 123 and on Complementary Itinerary (IC) 27, with alerts being triggered almost in real-time, when animals enter virtual areas of territory 200 meters wide, adjacent to the roads, on both sides of the road.

“The Waze system emits a signal to the driver when they drive on these roads in areas where there are lynx. If a lynx approaches within 200 meters on either side of the road, it receives a signal. It doesn’t say it’s a lynx, but it says there’s an animal nearby,” said the coordinator of the Iberian lynx reintroduction program.

The communication process uses a device that is based on LoRa network technology (an acronym for 'long range'), a radio frequency technology that allows communication over long distances with minimal energy consumption.

It is their interconnection with the sensors present in the felines' tracking collars that allow them to be located, however, of the population of almost 300 lynx that inhabit the Guadiana Valley area, for now, only 12 have collars with LoRa emitters.

“Last year we managed to place 12 collars with the transmitters and this year we will try to place 30 more, on 30 more animals”, said João Alves. This project, he highlighted, is an initiative from Portugal, which provided Spain with a collar equipped with a LoRa emitter to be tested in the Andalusia area.

However, for the system to work, the roads where there are lynx must have antennas specific to the LoRa system, as it does not work “with the same antennas, the same frequency - the technical term is ‘gateways’ -, which are placed taking advantage of the tower where cell phone signal receivers are located”, he clarified.

“Infraestruturas de Portugal and Fundação Altice, which also collaborates with us, in the transfer of GSM [Global System for Mobile Communications] cards, have allowed the placement of these ‘gateways’. We already have three cell towers with LoRa system gateways in the Mértola area and in the vicinity of Alcoutim”, said João Alves.

The objective is to try to install three more antennas of this frequency this year and next, so that the area where lynx live, in the Guadiana Valley, is covered by the system's antennas, to then issue warnings to drivers via the Waze app.

The lynx population in the Iberian Peninsula is progressively moving away from the risk of extinction and exceeded 2,000 specimens in 2023, double the number compared to 2020. The census carried out that year reveals that 291 lynxes live in the Guadiana Valley.