The four Municipalities in the area of the Natural Park of Southwest Alentejo and Costa Vicentina – Aljezur, Odemira, Sines and Vila do Bispo – will present an application for recognition of the “Southwest Coast” by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization ) as a Natural Heritage of Humanity.
The candidacy process, which is based on the «unequaled natural, geological and heritage values, of recognized worldwide interest», on that coast, will be led by the Municipality of Odemira.
José Alberto Guerreiro, president of the Chamber of Odemira, explained to the Sul Informação that “we were willing to take the lead in this process with the agreement of all the other partners, above all because we are the council with the most area, since more than 50% of the Park area belongs to Odemira”.
On the other hand, considered the mayor of Alentejo, "we have special responsibilities, because Odemira hosts the headquarters of the Natural Park", which, in his opinion, "will also make the relationship easier in obtaining scientific data, for example". Furthermore, “there is some financial effort involved in this candidacy, which we are willing to make”.
José Alberto Guerreiro added that, after "bringing together the entities and knowing their will", the next step in this process is to guarantee the collaboration of several entities, among which the Alentejo Regional Tourism Entity stands out, which "already has experience to work on other World Heritage nominations, as she played a decisive role in Cante's and is now involved in Alcáçovas's rattles' heritage”.
The mayor announced, in his statements to the Sul Informação, that the preparation of the application dossier starts "in the month of August", so that it can be ready "by the end of the year", so that the final application file is formally delivered in 2016 and the evaluation takes place in 2017.
“It's a process that will give us a lot of work. It is not enough to apply, it is necessary to duly justify in technical, environmental and cultural aspects».
And what advantages will this application and its eventual approval bring to Costa Sudoeste and the four municipalities involved?
The mayor of Odemira begins by seeing an advantage: «the recognition, by the entities involved and who here join forces, that this area is a jewel and that we have to work together».
But the eventual classification of the Southwest Coast as a Cultural Heritage of Humanity, «on an international level, will lead these values to reach greater notoriety, it will bring more visitors, it will increase the attractiveness, but it will also force us to better organize our response, in terms of accommodation , activities and dynamization of visitation».
The mayor recalls that, through the Rota Vicentina, that Natural Park «has already achieved more projection and recognition. The creation of this Route was also a joint process of several entities and today the gains for all are evident».
“Our work will not only involve preparing the application, but also preparing responses in various fields, cultural, tourism, sports, recreational”, he added.
The “Southwest Coast” extends along the Atlantic coast between São Torpes (Sines municipality) and Burgau (Vila do Bispo municipality), including the entire coastline of the Odemira and Aljezur municipalities, as well as the parallel maritime space of two kilometers to from the coastline corresponding to the area of the Natural Park of Southwest Alentejo and Costa Vicentina. It is a unique region, both for its biodiversity, level of preservation and landscape richness.
In 2004, the National Commission of UNESCO (Portugal) presented the “Costa Alentejana” to integrate the “Tentative List” of UNESCO to be recognized as a Natural Heritage of Humanity. This proposal was accepted and, since then, the “Southwest Coast” has been included in UNESCO's “Tentative List”.
The National Commission has recently started the process of reviewing the properties inscribed in the “Tentative List”.
If an entity or group of entities is needed to promote the work of reformulating the initial proposal and developing the subsequent process leading to the recognition of the "Southwest Coast" as a Natural Heritage of Humanity, and Odemira being the central territory of this natural asset, the Municipality of Odemira takes the lead in the process.
The Municipality of Odemira believes that the recognition of these values by UNESCO will decisively contribute to the achievement of the objectives that presided over the constitution of the protected area of the Natural Park of Southwest Alentejo and Costa Vicentina, thereby mitigating risks of loss of natural and heritage values for the region, for the country and for humanity.
This proposal was unanimously approved at the Odemira City Council meeting held on June 18, and by majority vote at the Municipal Assembly session that took place on June 29.
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