The Municipality of Loulé once again celebrated the International Forestry Day (21 March) and World Water Day (22 March), through the promotion of a commemorative program, framed in the local policy of climate action and environmental protection that has been continuing in recent years.
The free delivery to the population of 4000 specimens of various tree species, such as the cork oak, holm oak, wild olive, pomegranate, Portuguese oak, and shrubs, including lavender or rosemary, took place this year at the Loulé Municipal Market.
The municipal companies joined these activities and, in Quarteira, the students of the School Dr.ª Laura Aires spent this Monday morning in an awareness-raising action, coordinated by the Green Spaces department of Inframoura, alerting young people to the importance of Vilamoura's green structure in the fight against climate change. Infraquinta's landscaping and gardening team also invited the company's employees to join the celebration of this day, with the planting of 15 pine trees next to André Jordan Avenue. The Infralobo auditorium hosted a seminar on biodiversity in the Vale do Lobo area aimed at employees, presented by Ricardo Quinto-Canas from the University of Algarve. This municipal company also distributed 2500 trees to its customers to be planted.
It should be remembered that the Loulé City Council has played an intense role in the field of forests, whether by carrying out planting actions in the community and in schools, or by offering tree and shrub species to the population, but also with structuring projects for the sector. This is the case of the elaboration of the Sustainability Agenda “Forest, Biodiversity and Rural Development” which foresees in its genesis the evaluation, mapping and valorization of ecosystem services; the Green Infrastructure Rehabilitation Plan; the Mediterranean Forest Enhancement Project; access to PERLA - Strategic Program for the Recovery of Water Lines; or the Pact for a Sustainable Food System and the Patrimonialization of the Traditional Drought Orchard.
A tree planting action was also planned for the 22nd of March along the Ribeira da Tôr, as well as, for the 23rd, the presentation of the works carried out under the Condomínio de Aldeia Program, but, due to the adverse weather conditions of the In recent days, these actions have been postponed to next April.
In addition to Forests, another emerging issue in Loulé's municipal policy is issues related to Water, namely the impacts resulting from water scarcity, situations that are currently already manifested in the municipal territory. Aware of the relevance of this problem, the Municipality of Loulé joined the “H2Off - TIME TO CLOSE THE TAP!” movement on World Water Day, an initiative promoted by the APDA (Portuguese Association of Water Distribution and Drainage), which aims to stimulate reflection about the use made of water, raising awareness so that the consumption of this resource is more efficient and balanced. This consisted of turning off the tap for an hour, without any consumption of water, between 10:00 pm and 11:00 pm on March 22, in a deliberate and conscious gesture (stopping, for example, irrigation, the operation of decorative fountains, the use of faucets and showers, washes, etc.).
The Municipality invites everyone to visit the page of the campaign “Here we take care of Water” http://aquicuidamosdaagua.pt/ , which was also materialized in an exhibition, open to the public at the Municipal Market as of this Tuesday, and aims to highlight ways of how individually we can save this resource. The product of this exhibition is the result of a collaboration with Loulé Concelho Global and will later be transferred to schools and other public buildings/places.
Water sustainability is one of the sectors in which the Municipality of Loulé has had relevant work and that is why many other projects and initiatives are underway for sustainable management of this resource, always with the objective of developing a governance model. a place that integrates the different agents responsible for water management and that intends to include the citizen as an inducer of transformation, because all individual actions count.
