The Portuguese Environment Agency, Monchique Council and local environmental association ‘A Nossa Terra’ have signed a partnership to promoting environmental education and volunteering activities, especially in Natura 2000 areas in Monchique.
The partnership will be funded under the EU's LIFE project for volunteering* which will be rolled out to all of the Algarve municipalities - Monchique being the first due to the recent fire and the government’s need to for some positive news after the fire that burned 27,000 hectares of land and forest this summer.
Rui André, the Mayor of Monchique, said his municipality already had participated in other LIFE projects financed by the European Union and that he hoped the latest project would, "serve as an example in the future."
"Monchique has to take advantage of this opportunity created by the fire to make a plan to change the landscape and in land use planning,” added the mayor, his earlier anger against the government now truly dampened.
Speaking of the many people who want to help Monchique recover from the fire, the mayor said he is, “a big supporter of volunteering, but let it be organised. The worst that can happen is that the volunteers are not organised."
Stephen Hugman, president of A Nossa Terra, said the association has done much planting of native species in the Monchique hills but the hard thing is the ongoing maintenance.
The protocol signed between Monchique Council, APA and A Nossa Terra means that volunteering will be promoted to monitor water quality, to clear out irrigation and water channels, control and remove invasive species and plant indigenous species, create environmental education and volunteer activities, and engage with schools.
See: ‘A Nossa Terra’
