Welcome to Faro, where mature trees are treated like loose pieces of urban furniture, pruned down to the marrow and transplanted from one side to the other, following the works of requalification urban area of a city that is said to want greener.
On November 11th, a group of citizens united in a symbolic vigil, in protest against the removal of four trees from a square in downtown Faro, as well as the repeated practice of drastic pruning by the Chamber of Faro, with the images that accompany this article attesting to the reason in question.
The emblematic place, Praça Ferreira de Almeida, known as “Largo da Palmeira”, is located in one of the most central areas of Faro, with several cafes and restaurants surrounding it, and so many other terraces that, over the years, have been gaining space for pedestrian enjoyment, spreading like "weeds" to the flavor of economic growth and in proportion to demand and tourist pressure in the city.
In this square, there are (or existed), in addition to the emblematic palm tree that renamed the place, and which has already been transplanted, several jacarandas with decades of existence and their ecosystems duly stabilized.
In addition to the shade and freshness that mature specimens of this size give to the spaces where they fit, we were toasted and delighted - residents but also tourists, those who want to eat on the terraces - with an incredible and exquisite natural setting of color and life , in a psychedelic explosion duly accompanied by the irrepressible singing of the birds that landed there.
At the moment, we have "refurbishment" works, awarded for a value of 477 thousand euros, more or less, and which, according to the municipality, aim to "enlarge the pedestrian spaces in the city center", as well as "restrict the passage of cars" .
The work and its foundation are, in themselves, meritorious and necessary. We are pleased to know that the issue of sustainable mobility within the city of Faro, so touted over successive city council executives, is finally beginning to be cautious.
Now, with the fever of “climate change” and the consequent impositions of decarbonization at a global level, enshrined in the 2030 agenda, the acceleration and the urgency of materializing measures like these, will be felt even more urgently, if not even mandatory.
On the other hand, there is a paradoxical phenomenon: while the intention is to remove vehicles from the city center, creating more space for pedestrian enjoyment, the perimeter of occupation of these same public spaces, which were intended to be appropriated by the pedestrians, in benefit of new terrace concessions for restaurants.
Where are we then? More sustainable mobility, less pollution, more space for pedestrians, but also more terraces, less trees, less shade, less oases of fauna and flora in the urban desert.
I wonder where the structural coherence and ecological significance of our policy makers end up? This is because we almost always return to the starting point of regional disorientation: the drought and tourism monoculture, to the detriment of economic diversity and the well-being and sustainable future of populations, which the so famous Regional Resilience Plan aims, precisely, to pursue.
To this extent, those like the Glocal group Faro, still insist on exercising their active citizenship in defense of urban green spaces and preservation of the existing biophysical heritage, often feel frustrated with counter-cycles, empty promises, difficulty in accessing projects and other clarifications on this type of interventions, as well as with the successive inconsistencies between the greenish discourses and certain public management practices.
Requalifying means “qualifying what already exists”, not destroying and doing it again. In this sense, would it not be possible to have arrived at an urban design solution that would take advantage of one of the existing roads, avoiding these thinnings and transplants?
That is why many attentive and conscientious citizens have reacted to this regrettable situation through the means at their disposal: vigil at the site, questioning in the Municipal Assembly, press releases and a wide sharing on social networks.
That said, and following a request made by Glocal to the municipality, the Landscape Architecture project was finally made available, as well as obtaining additional clarifications from the Municipal Works and Equipment Division - whose availability is welcome - having- if, however, it is verified that, within the scope of this work, even more “transplants” of other trees existing in that location are planned.
It should be added that, in addition to a recommendation already approved by the Municipal Assembly of Faro, which deals precisely with the end of rolling pruning and better management and enhancement of the municipality's arboreal heritage, with georeferencing of its trees, there is also law 59/2021, of 18/8, which mandates the drafting of municipal regulations management of urban trees and municipal inventory, within one year.
It is, therefore, in the face of this chaotic puzzle of requalification, of random strips and puts of trees, now opening space for passersby, now giving back to restoration, that we come across.
Among vain promises and many other recommendations and unfulfilled laws, the severed jacarandas, pathetic sculptures in their slow violet agony, cry out to the skies for better days. As for us, we cross our fingers, but never our arms, so that they have better luck than the defunct orange trees in Largo da Sé.
Author: Raquel Ponte, for the Glocal-Faro
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