The association has been granted an undisclosed amount of financing from the Environment Ministry’s Environment Fund.
Newspaper Sul Informação reports that, despite having been given a short execution time for the project, Almargem will combine its studies with the work of several other experts, such as from the Portuguese Society for the Study of Birds, the Algarve University, and TAGIS – the Centre for the Conservation of Portuguese Butterflies.
The final objective, Almargem told the newspaper, “is to draw up a well-founded proposal that can be presented to the wetlands’ respective local authorities, to initiate the process of having the areas classified as Local Protected Areas”.
Almargem says this will be “particularly relevant” in the case of Lagoa’s Alagoas Brancas, “due to the lack of adequate initiatives on behalf of Lagoa council and government departments in proving the conservation importance of this small wetland, which is being threatened by an inadmissible parcelling plan in an area subject to periodic flooding”.
Regarding the Sapais de Pêra and Lagoa dos Salgados wetlands, they are currently being assessed as part of a 148-hectare municipal urbanisation plan that would see a golf course, hotels and apartments built, creating a total of 4,000 beds.
“The approval of the current study acknowledges that the areas in question could have great potential in environmental and conservationist terms, so it is strange that they still want to move forward with the so-called Praia Grande venture, which is completely incompatible with the protection of heritage values, with the framework of European commitments and the sustainable development of the region”, argues Almargem.
As for Trafal and Foz do Almargem, the association Almargem’s intention with their studies is to consolidate other ideas that have been put forward for at least three decades to protect this small part of the Algarve coast, which is the target of “inadequate interventions, land misuse and real estate speculation”.
The association hopes that through its studies, Loulé Council can “once and for all fulfil its indispensable duty to preserve its natural heritage”.