A delegation from the Portuguese Communist Party, including the PCP deputy elected by Algarve Paulo Sá, expressed its "deep concern with the fact that the environmental wealth of the Serra de Monchique could be compromised by the exploitation of feldspar in sky mines".
According to this delegation, which met a few days ago with the “A Nossa Terra” Association of Monchique, the possible exploitation of feldspar “would have serious negative repercussions on economic activities developed in the municipality of Monchique and neighboring municipalities”.
The PCP delegation also expressed its solidarity with the struggle of the populations in defense of the Serra de Monchique, pledging to use the parliamentary apparatus of questions to the Government to obtain additional information on the process of granting feldspar prospecting rights and on opinions that, necessarily, will have to be obtained from the competent authorities.
The Algarve communist deputy Paulo Sá also visited, accompanied by elements of this environmental association, the areas of Corte Grande and Carapitotas (Picota), where two companies intend to exploit feldspar mineral deposits in open-pit mines.
The PCP recalls, in a statement, that the Serra de Monchique, due to its ecological value and sensitivity, is subject to special protection, integrating the Natura 2000 network (Monchique Special Protection Zone) and also the National Ecology Reserve.
It has a great wealth, sometimes unique, either from a geological point of view or from the point of view of biodiversity.
There, diverse specimens of wild animals proliferate, including endangered species, such as the Bonelli's eagle.
Its forest ecosystem has been identified as one of the hot spots forests European natural forests.
Therefore, considers Paulo Sá, «the exploitation of feldspar in the middle of the Serra de Monchique, with open-pit mines tearing deeply into the southern slopes of Picota, would have profound and negative impacts on the ecosystem, on water resources, on the quality of the air, landscape, traditional economic activities and tourism».
Furthermore, he stresses, «the populations of the municipality of Monchique have expressed their deep opposition to the exploitation of feldspar in the Serra de Monchique, having been held, last March, a petition in this regard, which collected around 2000 signatures (in a municipality that, according to the 2011 Census, has a resident population of 6037 people)».
Furthermore, according to the Environmental Association “A Nossa Terra”, during the period of public discussion of the requests for the allocation of prospecting and research rights for feldspar mineral deposits in the Serra de Monchique, they were sent to the General Directorate of Energy and Geology hundreds of complaints from inhabitants of the municipality of Monchique and friends from Serra de Monchique.
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