MEP Francisco Guerreiro, who every month makes several plane trips between Portugal and the cities of Brussels and Strasbourg, decided, to offset the ecological footprint of these flights, to promote a reforestation action in Alte, in the municipality of Loulé, last Friday -Friday, January 13th.
With a view to offsetting CO2 emissions from flights, the European Parliamentary Group “Os Verdes| Free European Alliance” proposed, in 2022, to the Municipality of Loulé, to finance the carrying out of a reforestation initiative with native trees and shrubs (and the respective maintenance for a minimum period of two years), on land owned by the municipality.
The proposal was accepted by the municipality, which made municipal land available on the site of Azinhal for the plantation.
On that day, around 120 arbutus trees were planted by the students and teachers of the Cândido Guerreiro Professional School involved in the FertiAlte project – Alte Aerobic Composting Unit – who had the opportunity to apply some of the compost produced under the project in this initiative.
The initiative also involved the participation of members of the ICNF, Civil Protection, Sapadores Florestais and the Association of Forestry Producers of Serra do Caldeirão, which will also be responsible for planting around 58 carob trees on the municipal land, for the maintenance of the entire reforested area ( 5852 m2) for a minimum period of two years, and by improving the existing cork oak forest in the northern part of the land (5050 m2).
The Municipality estimates that this initiative promotes, among other benefits, the fixation of atmospheric CO2, the retention of water in the soil and biodiversity.
«It is with policies and politicians who have this awareness that it makes sense to be in Politics», underlined Carlos Carmo, councilor for the Environment and Climate Action.
For this official, this initiative «fits perfectly with what the Municipality’s policy is», with emphasis on the fact that it was the first Municipal Climate Action Plan approved in Portugal, along with the set of actions emanating from the Agenda for Sustainability and Biodiversity.
Making the territory more resilient, maintaining the identity in terms of biodiversity and contributing to carbon neutrality are, according to the councilor, objectives of this reinforcement of the green spot in the territory.
António Martins, president of the Parish Council of Alte, joined the moment and said that, at a time when climate change is part of the world agenda, «all of us, in some way, should compensate our carbon emissions and the damage we cause to the environment with other initiatives that allow its recovery».
Francisco Guerreiro, who was elected by the PAN, a party with which he later fell out and which is now independent, wants this initiative to become an example to be replicated by others.
«I hope to be able to open a door so that my colleagues, the other 20 Portuguese MEPs, can do a similar job and, basically, guarantee that I can offset these ecological costs with transport. But also that more municipalities carry out this type of initiative», he also said.
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