The District Policy Commission of Faro do PAN – People-Animals-Nature condemns the decision of the Lagoa City Council to "authorize a permit for construction in a subdivision in the middle of the Alagoas Brancas Wetland ecosystem", considering that such construction "will destroy habitats and drive away the species existing there ».
The PAN District also defends that this approval “did not contemplate the necessary Environmental Impact Assessment, in addition to going against the Municipal Master Plan, the Urbanization Plan and against the rules of the National Ecological Reserve”, also criticizing the lack of “listening to the local population".
For the PAN, "urgent suspension and/or immediate revocation of the Urbanization Plan, as well as the classification of the zone as a Protected Area of Local Scope".
According to that party, the so-called Alagoas Brancas zone, in Lagoa, is «a wetland that is part of a set of lakes that gave the city its name and that carry a historical, cultural, landscape and identity value, as well as representing a high environmental value, given the richness of its ecosystem and its importance in preserving biodiversity and carbon storage that contribute to combating climate change».
“Due to the importance of these wetlands, several international treaties were created with a view to their protection”, they stress.
PAN recalls that Almargem – Association for the Defense of the Cultural and Environmental Heritage of the Algarve, together with several other environmental associations, developed a study on this particular area, financed by the Environmental Fund, and «the results were clear and conclusive»: “ despite its small size, this area is rich in wildlife, namely species with high protection statuses" and "given the uniqueness of the species present in the area, the creation of a protection status is essential and essential for conservation and management of the area.” This study, they add, was "personally presented to the Municipal Executive at a meeting of its own."
For this reason, the PAN regrets that the Lagoa City Council has not made "any change of position, despite having at its disposal all the necessary legal instruments to do so."
On the contrary, it hurriedly “to issue the necessary permit for the construction in question”, although this permit, in the opinion of that party, “does not meet the technical requirements, even violating the PDM and the Urbanization Plan”.
In addition, they point out, this is a floodable area, “forcing that the flow of water would have to be carried out through pipelines that cross the EN125, which is not foreseen”.
At national level, as early as 2019, the PAN had questioned the Government, through the Ministry of the Environment, regarding the new evidence arising from the study financed by the Environmental Fund for the conservation of Alagoas Brancas. So far, there has been no response from the Government.
“There is also the fact that, during the review of the PDM, whose public consultation ended last Wednesday, there was no clarification by the municipality to the population, which, moreover, will be directly affected by the decisions taken, limiting itself to its participation in what is provided for in the law, through participation in the public consultation», stresses Paulo Baptista, from the District Political Commission of Faro.
Such attitude, he adds, "demonstrates the undemocratic posture, and that does not value the citizens of the current Municipal Executive."
The PAN thus demands the “immediate suspension and/or revocation of the Urbanization Plan, as well as the beginning of the process of classifying the site as a Ramsar site, given its importance for the preservation of avifauna; as IBA – Important Bird Area and SPA – Special Protection Area, under the Birds Directive, and that Alagoas Brancas is still classified as a Protected Area of Local Scope».
"Within the PAN's competences as a political party, we will continue to do everything to stop this environmental crime in our district, with all the consequences that may result from that for those responsible for it", adds Paulo Baptista.
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