live and study in Faro, live regularly with the Ria Formosa, but confess that they were unaware of many of its riches and beauty. This is the experience of a group of 6th grade students from Escola EB 2,3 Neves Júnior de Faro, which will be repeated in many cases, among the approximately 300 students from various education cycles, who visited the Ria Formosa Natural Park (PNRF) this Wednesday, as part of the Água Jovem Forum, which was associated in 2016, to Ria Formosa Week.
Awaiting them, they found many environmental awareness activities, which preceded the official award ceremony of the Água Jovem Contest. But they also found “new animals”, that is, species that they had never seen (or noticed) before, despite being endemic to the place where they live.
More than that, they assure, they gained a renewed respect for the environmental values. And so it was hoped, since one of the objectives of the Água Jovem Forum is to make known the consequences of some of our actions, for nature, in order to encourage change in favor of sustainability.
Lara, Tiago, Jorge and David had just had their first session of birdwatching of their life and did not hide their enthusiasm.
“We didn't know there were so many types of animals. It was nice to get to know species that we had never seen before», Tiago told Sul Informação. «It was fun to know the characteristics of these animals. Many of us had never been here before», completed classmate Lara.
This group of students had passed, moments before, at the RIAS – Center for the Recovery and Investigation of Wild Animals of Ria Formosa, where it was explained to them that many of the tenants of the center are victims of human action. “We saw there at the RIAS that a bird was left without a leg, because it got caught in a string”, said Laura, visibly impressed.
In this way, they leave the PNRF with ideas to help avoid this type of situation. “We must not throw garbage into the Ria, such as bags, ropes and wires, because the [marine] animals are trapped and can suffocate”, they summarized.
The children and young people who attended the PNRF today enjoyed getting to know the endemic species of the Ria Formosa and beyond, but also realized that there are others that also live in the Algarve's lagoon area, but they shouldn't.
An example are some of the turtles that can be found in abundance in the Ria today. As Paula Vaz, from the Portuguese Environment Agency, explained to the kids at Neves Júnior, who were excited to see turtles in a pond, that species they were watching, with a red stripe on its head, is invasive and a serious problem, as it puts it at risk. the survival of your primas Algarve.
Also in the flora there are species that get along very well with the climate of the Algarve, but are not welcome. One of the activities promoted was the start of chorão and "was one of the most enthusiastic, as it involved getting your hands dirty," according to the organizers of the initiative.
Besides the birdwatching, the presentation at the RIAS and the start of chorões, activities were promoted on cetaceans, sessions on the danger that plastic straws pose to wildlife, screenings of the awareness film for the refugee issue "What if it were Me?" and an exhibition with the works of the Água Jovem Contest. The Algar company and the IPMA research center located at the PNRF headquarters also made their work known.
Activities that, it seems, managed to gain new adherents for the cause of Nature Conservation.
See the photos from the Água Jovem Forum:
(Photos: Hugo Rodrigues|Sul Informação)
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