The “Save Alagoas Brancas” Movement, the Municipality of Lagoa, the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA), the Coordination and Regional Development Commission (CCDR) and the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests (ICNF) will be heard at the Assembly da República on the 4th of April, at 16 pm.
The hearing, which will take place in the Committee on the Environment, takes place within the scope of the complaint presented to the Public Ministry, in October, by PAN – People-Animals-Nature Party, alerting to the destruction of Alagoas Brancas, feeding place and shelter of dozens of wild species.
In a note sent to the press, the Movement recalls that Alagoas Brancas is a humid and seasonal freshwater zone «of relevant patrimonial, cultural, environmental and tourist value, but, above all, important for the natural regulation of floods and infiltration of the aquifer that returned, after the heavy rains, to flood and receive hundreds of birds, including species that had not yet been observed there».
In the area, however, a sign was placed indicating that the entry and exit of construction machinery is authorized.
«The Mayor of Lagoa continues to make statements unfavorable to the conservation of the area, based on a two-page ICNF report from 2017 and to discredit the 97-page Almargem study, when the ICNF itself has already confirmed the value of Alagoas Brancas as well as the study of Almargem and considered that an environmental impact study was necessary, at the time of the 1st precautionary measure that the Municipality refused to carry out», denounces the Movement.
Faced with this problem, the PAN filed a precautionary measure with the Court of Loulé, at the end of last year, which resulted in the order of immediate suspension of construction work of a new shopping area in that area.
The definitive interruption of the works, as well as the beginning of the necessary processes to recover and allow the regeneration of that area, are, according to the “Save the Alagoas Brancas” Movement, supported by several local and national non-governmental organizations such as ASPEA, SPEA, Almargem, GEOTA, FAPAS, LPN, Zero, Speco, Tagis, Quercus, A Rocha or Participation City.
In addition to the PAN, the Bloco de Esquerda has also been fighting, since 2017, for the protection and defense of Alagoas Brancas with a draft resolution approved by the Assembly of the Republic and at least two requests in the European Parliament in Brussels.
The group of citizens in defense of Alagoas Brancas considers it essential that these be included in the RAMSAR convention and asks
help from all of civil society to sign the petition “Save the wetland of Alagoas Brancas”, with the aim of “putting pressure on the Assembly of the Republic to take urgent measures to preserve this important natural area”.
The petition can be signed here
The same group of citizens announced the organization of a demonstration on the 19th of April, Lagoa city day.
The gathering begins at 16 pm, next to the Municipal Auditorium, passing through the Lagoa Town Hall, continuing on foot to Alagoas Brancas, to observe the hundreds of species that roost and feed there.
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