Lagoa Council fails to grasp environmental protection basics

LagoasBrancasSmallIn April, Lagoa Council sent in heavy machinery to 'clean' the banks of one of the water channels at Alagoas Brancas, in the middle of the breeding season for birds.

Although the GNR's SEPNA nature division were called they said they found no dead birds, yet local residents have photos and a video that prove otherwise.

Lagoa is one of five cities in Portugal chosen to measure its 'environmental footprint'.

The Council has, understandably, made a big deal of this and proudly states that it is ‘a friend of the environment.’

Behind the scenes, the council carries on with acts of destruction of nature and wildlife.

For sure these acts of destruction will not be measured for the 'footprint'. Neither will the proposed destruction of the natural wetland at Alagoas Brancas and its replacement by the inevitable concrete and steel of a new Continente supermarket.

The council will show photos of its re-cycling bins, taken when they are not overflowing with uncollected rubbish, and hide the things that they don't want people to see.

"Friends of the Environment" – is, at best, astoundingly hypocritical.

Furthermore the head of environmental matters in Lagoa council is poorly informed and dances to the tune of the council leadership in the matter of Alagoas Brancas.

Why did she allow indiscriminate and destructive water channel cleaning at Alagoas Brancas when the Algarve Environmental Agency’s guidelines clearly indicate how and when such work should be done in order to have minimum environmental impact?

Why has she allowed palm trees in Lagoa to be pruned at a time when birds are breeding in them?

Why does a local Council put itself forward as a friend of the environment when its action show it is nothing of the sort?

 

Based on an article submitted by Geoffrey Blofeld from Salvar as Alagoas Brancas