Today, 15 environmental associations asked the Minister for the Environment and Climate Action, Duarte Cordeiro, for the immediate protection of the Alagoas Brancas wetland. The signatories want the suspension of a commercial enterprise.
The group of 15 associations and movements claims that there is an “imminent risk of destruction” of that wetland. The signatories request the “immediate intervention” of the government to stop a commercial enterprise. They want to guarantee the protection of an “Important freshwater reserve” for species of fauna and flora.
In a statement, the group addressed the request to Duarte Cordeiro on the eve of the discussion, in parliament, of resolution proposals for the protection of that zone. The document mentions that what is at stake is the “non-compliance with the National Ecological Reserve regime when revising the Municipal Master Plan of Lagoa, in the Algarve”.
The zone is located within an alluvial aquifer that supports an ecosystem of “enormous biodiversity”
Associations and movements ask the holder of the Environment portfolio to protect the wetland of 8.5 hectares, with fresh water. The zone is located within an alluvial aquifer. This sustains an ecosystem of “enormous biodiversity”, used by more than 300 species of animals and plants.
“This natural resource and the defense of the territory against drought must prevail over any rights of the construction in question”, argued the group of signatories. They therefore consider that the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA) should have classified the area “as an area threatened by natural floods”. As well as a “strategic infiltration and protection area for aquifer recharge”.
The group also expressed its opposition to the translocation of some of the animals present there as a measure to mitigate the impact of the project. The signatories therefore consider that it has “high costs” and “much higher than moving the construction of the commercial area” to another space in Lagoa.
Associations ask for "priority in the security and defense of people and goods”
The signatories ask that “the safety and defense of people and goods be considered a priority”, in view of the development of a “construction in a place subject to floods and floods and active karsification underground”. Above all, they want projects in vulnerable territories to be “adapted to this new reality”.
The 15 promoters of the message addressed to the minister defend, from now on, that “acquired rights cannot constitute an obstacle to adapting” to new solutions. Such as the relocation of the development, licensed in “serious non-compliance” with the Intermunicipal Plan for Adaptation to Climate Change in the Algarve.
“This area should be classified, contributing to the fulfillment of the protection target of 30% of the land areas of the European Union by 2030 […]. There are few areas in the Algarve still safe from the real estate expansion and, therefore, this appeal to save this area and avoid yet another environmental loss”.
The group of signatories comprises the Association for the Defense of the Cultural and Environmental Heritage of the Algarve (Almargem), the international Christian organization for conservation and environmental protection A ROCHA, the association Ecotopia Ativa. Other groups are Cidade da Participação, the Portuguese Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity (FAPAS) and the Study Group on Spatial Planning and Environment (Geota).
Also part of the signatories are the League for the Protection of Nature (LPN), the Movement to Save the White Alagoas, the Sustainable Water Platform, the association PROBAAL – Pro Barrocal Algarvio, the National Association for Nature Conservation – Quercus. As well as the Portuguese Society for the Study of Birds (SPEA), the Portuguese Society of Ecologies (SPECO), the Center for the Conservation of Butterflies in Portugal – TAGIS and ZERO – Sustainable Terrestrial System Association.
Source https://postal.pt/
