The Algarve can use its natural assets to position itself as a ‘model in sustainable development’ providing a blueprint to tackle future global crises, a conference heard.

Portugal’s southern region has the perfect environment to test solutions for major challenges ahead - including energy use, water shortages, greenhouse gas emissions, elderly care, wellbeing and the destruction of natural habitats, ecosystems and wildlife - according to experts at the 2019 Algarve Tourism Conference.

The Algarve has a special resource, namely Lagoa dos Salgados. We understand this area has no protected status and would like to know, in light of the landscaping work carried out some years ago to enhance the habitat for birds, what is projected to safeguard this area for the future.
After spending our 13th consecutive winter in the area, we, as are many others, concerned for the welfare of this valuable resource.

Climate change remains a taboo subject for many people including the president of the United States, but at the recent Porto Climate Change Leadership Summit the keynote speaker, former Vice-President Al Gore, reiterated the alarming scientific evidence for global warming.

Meanwhile, a new analysis claims that the five largest oil and gas companies in the world spend nearly $200 million annually in lobbying to delay, control or block policies to tackle climate change. Millions of dollars are being spent on targeting Facebook and Instagram ads by the global oil giants and related organisations to promote the benefits of increased fossil fuel production, according to the report published by InfluenceMap.

The recently released Global Risk Report sponsored by the World Economic Forum revealed that “800 million people live in more than 570 coastal cities vulnerable to a sea-level rise of 0.5 metres”.

It did not say how many of these are in the Algarve. But it is astonishing that no media in Portugal reported this daunting risk.

"2018 was a watershed year for ASMAA as we progressed through the transformation process that started in 2017," writes Laurinda Seabra from the Association.

Anti-Oil Drilling Campaigns: as we have done since the creation of ASMAA, our primary focus continued to be the “Nem UM Furo” anti-oil drilling national campaign.

Multiple actions took place right throughout the year across Portugal. During the year many updating and feedback sessions where run in Alentejo, Algarve and Central Portugal.

In 2010, water was officially recognised as a universal human right by the United Nations. However, the European Union has yet to do the same.

The management of water has long been in the hands of private companies, but resistance to this profit-driven model has increased in Europe since 2000. Activists against water privatisation in Portugal, Greece and Ireland say that the EU applies pressure to privatise water services using the economic crisis as a pretext for the creation of a water market in Europe.

The European Union is keen to lead the world in significantly reducing the immense problem of plastic litter.

The European Parliament and the Council of the European Union have reached a political agreement based on ambitious new measures proposed by the European Commission.

'A new EU Forest Strategy: for forests and the forest sector'

Introduction: the EU Forest Strategy

In 2013, the Communication ‘A new Forest Strategy: for forests and the forest-based sector’ (‘the Strategy’) set a new EU framework to coordinate and ensure coherence in forest-related policies and enhance the contribution of forests and the forest-based sector to EU objectives. Sustainable forest management (SFM), the multifunctional role of forests, resource efficiency and global forest responsibility are its guiding principles.