After years of struggle, islanders labelled ‘illegal’ are brought in from cold
The door has finally opened on the fair treatment that communities on Culatra Island in Ria Formosa have been fighting for for decades. Environment minister Maria da Graça Carvalho visited the island on Sunday and, in marked contrast to previous ministers and other ‘figures of authority’, she came in peace.
She did not perpetuate the narrative that ‘people are the problem’ on this barrier island in front of Faro; she admitted that, in the end, it is the government that has been wrong.
“We want to standardise the management model of the various communities,” she explained, dubbing the current reality in which some properties are illegal, because they are in Public Maritime Domain, and others are legal, in the jurisdiction of Faro municipality, as “ridiculous”.
“This has very complicated consequences for people’s lives because even if Faro Câmara wants to help with basic sanitation, electricity and water, it can’t do so – and so there are urgent matters to resolve here.”
Islanders welcome minister
SOS Ria Formosa, the action group that has fought previous government edicts and demolition orders, concedes it cannot remember a speech from a person in charge (…) that was as straightforward and people-oriented”.
“It has been 10 years, incredible as it may seem, since a government tried to simply ‘wipe’ these communities off the map,” the group recalled over social media in a response to the minister’s visit – stressing the invaluable resistance of residents’ associations, “the people of these communities” and Faro and Olhão councils, who both made “huge” efforts to stave off the cull.
Yes, there were casualties (homes that were levelled by JCBs ‘in the name of the environment’), but Minister Carvalho stressed that these demolitions removed the perceived dangers from encroaching sea levels as the homes that remain “are further away from the water line”.
Her visit, she said, was “to listen to people”, and tell them that the government (through the Portuguese Environment Agency, APA), together with Faro municipality, will analyse the situation and see how it can be put on an equitable footing.
“We need to look at all of this with a lot of common sense,” she said – a sentence that belied the enormous lack of it that has blighted the recent past.
There is no timeline, however. The intention is simply to carry out an analysis “very soon” and to present a “solution” that will allow houses not at risk to finally all become recognised.
Renaturalisation of islands
The sweeping ‘renaturalisation’ of the islands, previously planned by government agency Polis Litoral da Ria Formosa (in a blueprint that required the human communities of Hangares, and large parts of Farol, to be flattened) is “not going ahead”, she assured. It was another sentence worth its weight in gold.
Portugal’s first centre-right government since the one that sought to cleanse the islands of its fishermen and residents is now focused on preventing any further construction or population growth on them but committed to “communities that already exist”, and keen to ensure their living conditions are improved, said the minister.
For SOS Ria Formosa, Maria da Graça Carvalho’s statements have left islanders “extremely hopeful that the authorities have indeed realised, once and for all, the economic validity, cultural importance and attachment of the people to this island.
“It has been years and years of abandonment,” they stress, “and it has always been the islanders themselves who have taken care of these places, building support and organisational infrastructures not only for those who live here but also for those who want to visit these places, and there are thousands of them today.
Ria Formosa conservation
“It is time to recognise, compensate and respect people once and for all. Create rules, create supervision, create conditions for the ridiculous situations recognised by the minister herself.
“It is absolutely essential to have these guidelines well defined, to call on communities to participate and also to hold them responsible for complying with the rules defined. They are the first line of defence for the environment, they are the ones who suffer most from the lack of support and conditions, so they are the main stakeholders in respecting and creating rules that defend this wonderful space that is the Ria Formosa.
“It is time for us all to work together to make this area more beautiful, more respected, more solid, and one that we can all be proud to represent and defend against any and all threats.
“Let’s take care of these communities, let’s once and for all create the conditions to defend the environment, counting on them to be at the forefront of this fight that belongs to everyone.
“No more destruction. Let’s build solid solutions that serve the communities and those who visit them, so that we can all be proud and say, this is worth it.
The group adds: “We are not enemies of the environment” (accusations of the past still rankle and hurt) “Quite the opposite”. And this, in the end, is the essence of this long, exhausting chapter; the truth of islanders’ struggle – and why the institutional lies cooked up to try and get rid of them did not ultimately succeed.
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Flashback a decade
Nearly 10 years ago, the Resident visited Culatra island, at a point where Polis Litoral de Ria Formosa wanted to demolish 800 homes on the various barrier islands, arguing that human activity was threatening the environment.
Culatra’s communities of Hangares and Farol were facing mass evictions – and unlike other islands (including Ancão, currently seeing houses demolished now that alternative housing can be offered in lieu – see page 12), people were told they deserved nothing by way of compensation.
They took on personal debt to hire a lawyer and stand their ground. It was hugely expensive, financially and mentally. At times, the pressure from Polis Litoral da Ria Formosa was unimaginable: there was even a moment when a naval ship was docked off Farol to stop people from arriving to support the protests against demolitions.
Fishermen were told if their boats were moored, they would be confiscated. The level of terror used against people that the government now accepts had every right to their homes was nothing short of a scandal. There was even one environment minister who justified the demolitions on the basis that the islands should be “enjoyed by the whole population” and not “just by a few” …
By NATASHA DONN
natasha.donn@portugalresident.com
Photos: Bruno Filipe Pires/Open Media Group
