NGOs cite “irreparable losses to environment”
Algarvian NGOs have filed a class action lawsuit to stop the construction of the new Faro marina (Porto de Recreio), citing “severe procedural irregularities” in the “more than 19-year-old environmental impact assessment process”.
At stake, say the regional environmental defence associations, are “irreparable losses to the environmental values of the Ria Formosa Natural Park”, which have “long been alerted to by the scientific community” but to which authorities, up until now, have turned a deaf ear.
The class action entered Loulé’s Administrative and Fiscal Court last week – and according to one regional news report, Faro City Council has no knowledge of it. This is almost certainly because the council must first be ‘formally notified by the court’, which will then give it 10 days in which to present counter-arguments.
The council has told reporters that the project “safeguards the balance between natural values and the proposed intervention” which it sees as “vital” for the sustainable development of the municipality and the preservation of ‘one of its greatest natural assets’, Ria Formosa”, which it describes as, “one of the 7 Natural Wonders of Portugal”.
Work was due to start by December 16 – the deadline “imposed by the CCDR (commission for coordination and regional development)”, says a press statement issued by the NGOs.
Their ‘providência cautelar’ (precautionary measure) in case no. 896/24.0BELLE, is described as a preliminary administrative measure, evoking “a wide range of irregularities”, and ensuring that nothing for the time being can move forwards.
“It has long been recognised that this project, at the service of tourist and real estate interests, is a hecatomb (a great public sacrifice) of the ecology of the Ria Formosa”, says the statement.
“The Environmental Impact Assessment, carried out 20 years ago, is silent on the assessment of relevant environmental impacts (…) namely on the services that Blue Carbon ecosystems provide to Man (in particular seagrass meadows), a concept that was unknown at the time, along with much scientific knowledge that has only been unveiled in the last two decades.
“These impacts are irreversible and the loss of ecosystem services has not been properly measured. This includes the loss of biodiversity, which is essential for maintaining fishing resources.
“The implications of the release of hundreds of tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, equivalent to 200 ha of burnt forest, as well as the loss of the capacity to sequester 37 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, have also not been considered.
“The dredging of 7 hectares is an action that runs completely counter to global and European policies on reducing carbon dioxide emissions and the ecological restoration of blue carbon ecosystems to help mitigate climate change – a term that is not even mentioned in the initial Environmental Impact Assessment.
“These omissions also have obvious repercussions on the mitigation measures proposed for the project, which do not include, for example, the ecological restoration of underlying areas.
“This is yet another attempt to subtract from the Ria Formosa Natural Park Protected Area, which completely disregards the cumulative effects of human action, which over the last 130 years has led to the loss of 2000 ha of blue carbon ecosystems in Ria Formosa.
“Unfortunately, large-scale projects such as this never come up against the wisdom of public organisations, and we passively watch the gradual degradation of the Algarve coast.
“Alert to this case was given previously by a wide range of environmental protection associations who signed a petition ‘for the defence of the Ria Formosa marine prairies’, whose first signatory was Sciaena, a marine conservation NGO based in Faro, which denounces the environmental crime in question.
“An online petition is now active and can be joined by following the link above”, the statement concludes.
This project, now ‘on hold’ until the court makes a decision, is destined for the area south of the railway line, ‘in the middle of Ria Formosa’. It involves the construction of an earth-based platform and the creation of a water plane that will have floating berthing capacity for around 277 boats of up to 12 meters in length.
