Two years later, the Local Council for Monitoring Climate Action of the Municipality of Loulé, an entity whose mission is to create synergies both internal and external to the Municipality itself, met again.

More than 70 representatives of entities with a seat on the Local Council for Monitoring Climate Action of the Municipality of Loulé were at Cineteatro Louletano, last Monday, to participate in the 7th meeting of this body, a unique forum in the country for debating initiatives in environmental matters and where, for the first time, students were present on behalf of school groups.

Interventions by specialists on the work being carried out in areas such as water, energy, sustainable development goals, natural heritage, forest and biodiversity or the pioneering step that constituted the elaboration of the Loulé Municipal Climate Action Plan were some of the themes focused on climate change.

 As Lídia Terra, head of the Climate Action and Circular Economy Division, underlined, despite this interregnum caused by the pandemic, “the work process has not slowed down”. And it was to “give account and collect contributions from the parties in the face of this commitment to climate action” that the day's program was developed.

The first speaker of this plenary session, Mayor Vítor Aleixo, recalled the remarkable moments of this trip by Loulé, which began in 2013 with “the predisposition of the executive to make climate policy a central axis of municipal policy, now reinforced by the recent approval of the Climate Action Municipal Plan, highlighting the fact that Loulé was the first Portuguese municipality to have approved an instrument, which is now a legal obligation.

A plan that aims to “transform Loulé into a territory that is resilient to climate change, committed to decarbonization and the energy transition”, but that “does not leave anyone behind”, because follows a path that promotes sustainability and social justice, built with the community. Vítor Aleixo warns of the urgency of its implementation. “We are already living through a climatic catastrophe, evident to our eyes and we all have to hurry!”, he emphasized.

This was followed by the intervention of Miguel Freitas, who brought to this meeting some data on the dossier on “Sustainability, Forests and Biodiversity and Rural Development”. A vast work in progress since 2020, with a view to implementing various programs to increase knowledge about the territory (with a focus on low-density areas), make it more resilient and value endogenous resources, which is an asset for the candidacy for UNESCO Geopark.

In the current context that the Algarve region is already being affected by drought, Sérgio Costa, from Simbiente, presented the Municipal Contingency Plan for Periods of Drought, which provided the Municipality with a mechanism to deal preventively with periods of drought, ensuring the reduction of its effects and damages.

In a municipality that already has two protected areas, Fonte da Benémola and Rocha da Pena, councilor Carlos Carmo presented the process that led to the creation of a third, the Foz do Almargem and Trafal Local Natural Reserve. The classification of this area of 135 hectares in the parish of Quarteira was born from the need to protect the natural values exiting there, its wealth of fauna and flora, creating on the other hand, a decompression zone in the parish of the Algarve region with higher density population and urban area. In a policy of proximity between the management entity, visitors, residents and owners, its is intended that these are active agents in the management of the Reserve.

João Ferrão, from the Institute of Social Sciences of the University of Lisbon, spoke about the importance of meeting the sustainable development goals (SDGs) in the Agenda for 2030 proposed by the United Nations and the ODSlocal Platform, a dynamic online portal that allows viewing and monitoring of contributions and progress of each municipality in relation to the SDGs, map the innovative and sustainable practices that both municipalities, civil society and companies are implementing, and measure their impact.

This meeting ended with an assessment made by Pedro Coelho, from APA – Portuguese Environment Agency, Loulé's partner, who praised the work carried out: “Loulé clearly stands out in the Algarve and clearly stands out at a national level. It is on the right path but that path is long,” he emphasized.

It should be noted that, during this session, President Vítor Aleixo announced that, in September, Loulé will host an unprecedented initiative in terms of sustainable development, an international conference dedicated to the theme of “natural capital markets”, a new way of companies to think about the use of natural resources.