Call urgent meeting with authorities
Almost 30 civic and environmental associations have published an Open Letter today denouncing the lack of effective participation and transparency in the process of drawing up the Serra da Estrela Natural Park Revitalisation Programme (PRPNSE – created with a view to helping the area recover after devastating wildfires).
Following a Council of Ministers’ Resolution in February, and subsequent press release – which opened the way to the PSPNSE, promising a total investment of €155 million – the associations are requesting access to the programme, citing several flaws in its drafting process.
They stress that minister for territorial cohesion Ana Abrunhosa said the programme would involve entities and populations – which “ended up not happening” .
In all 28 local and national associations have now come together to share their concerns and formulate demands regarding what has been announced (by the government and municipalities of Guarda and Covilhã).
From their knowledge of the terrain and the history of the management of the Natural Park, the associations say that not only has there been a lack of transparency/ lack of participation, but the focus of public investment appears to be in “one off projects, rather than a resilient plan based on long-term vision”.
They are also concerned with the wording of literature put out by the authorities – particularly the phase “reconfiguration of the current land use plan for the PNSE“.
In short, is this revitalisation programme really what it says it is? Will it “actually meets the real needs of this Natural Park”, they query.
Manuel Franco, president of the Guardians of Serra da Estrela association created after the 2017 fires, is cited in the letter, saying: “There was an initial consultation to which some associations were invited at random, but it wasn’t a comprehensive or sufficiently participatory process. We were confronted with a communiqué that spoke of major works without a word about conservation or resilience, completely disconnected from the true origins of the cyclical catastrophes that plague this natural park.”
The multiple signatories also share the fear that the programme is not properly focused on the “urgent need to revitalise the landscape destroyed by the fires” – since most of the possible projects communicated in the meantime by the Ministry and municipalities focus on major works and infrastructures, “which have long been demanded by local authorities”.
From the signatories’ perspective, “the main concern should be to sustaining and regenerating a territory that conserves and provides ecosystem services, particularly in terms of water and soil, carbon and biodiversity itself.”
Joana Viveiro, from the Estrela Viva Movement, explains: “The Serra da Estrela associations had some hope in this ‘Marshall Plan’ for the Serra da Estrela. But the process got off to a bad start, with a lack of effective involvement from civil society and little transparency in the drafting of the document, which was not subject to any public consultation. What’s more, the main concern of this programme should be the regeneration of a conservation area and fair remuneration for ecosystem services, and it seems to us that this is not going to be the priority.”
These common concerns and the desire to contribute to the effective regeneration of the country’s largest protected area have led the signatories to request an urgent hearing with the Ministry of Territorial Cohesion and the CIM-BSE (the intermunicipal community of Beiras and Serra da Estrela).
In view of the looming elections, it cannot be clear when this will happen.
Signatories to the letter are:
A Geradora – Cooperativa Integral, CRL
Acréscimo – Associação de Promoção ao Investimento Florestal
Associação ALDEIA / CERVAS – Centro de Ecologia e Recuperação e Vigilância de Animais Selvagens Associação Guardiões da Serra da Estrela
Associação Veredas da Estrela
Campo Aberto – associação de defesa do ambiente CIDAMB – Associação Nacional para a Cidadania Ambiental Coletivo à escuta
Ecoativo – Associação de Protecção e Conservação da Natureza
FAPAS – Associação Portuguesa para a Conservação da Biodiversidade
FOLGONATUR – Associação Sem Fins Lucrativos
GEOTA – Grupo de Estudos de Ordenamento do Território e Ambiente GO Romaria – Associação Cultural Gouveense
Grupo Lobo – Associação para a Conservação do Lobo e do seu Ecossistema
IRIS – Associação Nacional de Ambiente
LPN – Liga para a Protecção da Natureza
Milvoz – Associação de Protecção e Conservação da Natureza
Movimento Estrela Viva – Associação Cívica pelo Desenvolvimento Sustentável e Integrado da Serra da Estrela
Núcleo Regional da Guarda – Quercus A.N.C.N.
Palombar – Associação de Conservação da Natureza e do Património Rural
ProTejo – Movimento Pelo Tejo
QUERCUS- A.N.C.N. – Associação Nacional de Conservação da Natureza
Rewilding Portugal
SPBotânica – Sociedade Portuguesa de Botânica
SPEN – Sociedade Portuguesa de Entomologia
Sociedade Portuguesa para o Estudo das Aves (SPEA)
URZE – Associação Florestal da Encosta da Serra da Estrela
ZERO – Associação Sistema Terrestre Sustentável
